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*• 



REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 



This nvork tvas prepared under tke direction of the Editorial 
Department of The Grafton Press. Fi-ve hundred copies 
have been printed from type and the type distributed. 
This copy is Numher 



N 




REMINISCENCES OF 

RICHARD LATHERS 



SIXTY YEARS OF A BUSY LIFE 
IN SOUTH CAROLINA, MASSA- 
CHUSETTS AND NEW YORK 



EDITED BY 

ALVAN F. SANBORN 




THE GRAFTON PRESS 

Publishers 

NEW YORK MCMVII 



U8KARYofCONef?ESS 
Two Cooies Received 
JUN 3 I90; 
/I Ooojrrieht Zmn 

'4tfnt ^, ' 9ef 

/lass O- HXc, No. 
co py B. 



Copyright, igof, by 
THE GRAFTON PRESS 



A' 4/^ 






PREFACE 

This book might well have been entitled " The Reminis- 
cences of a Peacemaker." 

From first to last the governing purpose of Colonel Lathers' 
long life was the establishment of peace. His activities in 
behalf of peace were of the most varied sort, being social as 
well as political. That he did not invariably succeed in his 
efforts at conciliation and reconciliation in no way discredits 
them or him. The wonder is, when all the circumstances are 
considered, that he succeeded so often. 

The editing of these reminiscences has been mainly a work 
of selection and of condensation. They have been left as nearly 
in their original form as the restricted compass of a single 
volume has permitted. 

The Editor. 



J 



CONTENTS 



I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 

XV. 



Old Carolina Days . 

Old New York Days 

Business Memories . 

Efforts to Save the Union 

Southern Mission 

The Montgomery Address 

In War Time . 

After the War 
Reconciliation . 

Real Reconstruction 
Berkshire Hospitality 
Agriculture and Politics . 
Men and Manners at Home and 
The Evening of Life 
Last Reflections 
Index 



Abroad 



PAGE 

3 
36 

63 

72 

120 

139 

168 

231 

261 

289 

326 

334 

350 

38s 

398 

409 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Richard Lathers, from the portrait by Huntington in 

the New York Chamber of Commerce Frontispiece 

FACING PAGE 



y 



John C. Calhoun 


• 






26 


Wilson G. Hunt 


. 






48 


"Winyah," New Rochelle 






52 


Interior of " Winyah " 








54 


J. C. G. Kennedy 








190 


Gerard Hallock 








226 


Donald L. McKay . 








278 


Alfred Huger . 








290 


Richard O'Gorman . 








374 


Old New York, Painted 


by Colonel Lathers 


378 


Colonel Lathers Late in 


Life .... 


386 


Interior of Trinity Church, New 


Roch 


elle . 


• 398 



THE REMINISCENCES OF 
RICHARD LATHERS 



COLONEL RICHARD LATHERS 

Died Thursday, September 17, IQ03, at his New York 
Residence, 248 Central Park, West. 

The funeral services were held at Trinity Church, New 
Rochelle, Saturday, September IQ, IQ03, and the burial 
was in the Trinity churchyard. 



Reminiscences of Richard Lathers 



CHAPTER I 

OLD SOUTH CAROLINA DAYS 

In the early summer of 1894 I received the following letter 
from the Mayor of Georgetown, S. C. : 

" Bank of Georgetown, S. C., 
" June 1 2th, 1894. 
" Hon. Richard Lathers, New York, 

" Dear Sir: — Pardon the liberty of a stranger writing to 
you. While I am unknown to you, yet you are no stranger to 
me, as I have for years heard of your early connection with 
this historical old town. The reason of this letter was the 
publication about ten days ago in the Charleston News and 
Courier, of your letter to a young lady, thanking her for sun- 
dry papers regarding St. Michael's Church, and alluding to 
the old church. Prince George Winyah, in Georgetown. Your 
letter was republished in our Georgetown papers, and I take 
pleasure in handing same to you, together with a copy of the 
Winyah Observer of March, 1842, containing the Episcopal 
elections for that year, and, among the names. I find yours as 
one of the Wardens of the Prince George Winyah Church; 
and thinking you would like to have this leaf, so to speak, 
of the past, I take great pleasure in sending it to you. I have 
an excellent photograph of the church also, taken about three 
years ago, which, if you would like to have and will drop me 
a line to that eflfect, I will forward to you. I am always 
delighted to see old residents and friends of old Georgetown 
cherishing fond recollections of the place and its institutions. 
Though I belong to a younger generation, yet I love the past 



^ 



4 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

history of the place and take pleasure in recalling old faces, 
scenes and memories. Hoping you will pardon this liberty 
on the part of a stranger, I remain, 

" Yours respectfully, 

" W. D. Morgan." 

On looking over the newspaper referred to above, I found 
many items with which I was connected ; such as Military 
Orders for the parade of the First Battalion of my regiment 
for drill and inspection, and a notice announcing my entrance 
as a partner into the most extensive mercantile establishment 
in the city, although I was then hardly in my majority — a 
piece of good fortune attributable, not to my own slender 
capital and moderate capacity, but to the confidence and aid 
of my friends, among them Joseph Thurston and Col. Donald 
McKay. 

This flattering letter from the Mayor of Georgetown, and 
the requests of numerous friends, kindled in me an ambition 
to record the events of the last sixty years in which I have 
borne a part. 

I have decided to begin my reminiscences with my young 
manhood, in order to relieve the reader of the usually tiresome 
details of childhood, which cannot possibly possess any but a 
family interest : and will only say of my early days that my 
education, which was a plain one, " with little Latin and less 
Greek," as Dr. Johnson says, was acquired partly in the very 
rooms of the Academy of the Winyah Indigo Society where 
President Cleveland was entertained recently by the City of 
Georgetown, and partly, during the summer months, in the 
rural schools and academies of the North. 

The entire property of the average planter at the time I 
started in business was hardly equal to the annual income of 
the Northern millionaire of to-day ; but on this relatively 
modest sum he dispensed a liberal and refined hospitality which 
challenged the admiration of all visitors to the South. 

A rice plantation and two hundred negroes worth about 
$150,000 to $200,000 furnished an income sufficient to support 



OLD SOUTH CAROLINA DAYS 5 

a family of five to ten persons in comparative luxury, since 
this enabled them to have carriages and horses, a town house, 
and a villa in some retreat, in addition to the homestead. The 
natural increase of the negroes in twenty or thirty years was 
sufficient to educate the children in high-grade seminaries at 
home or abroad and to provide marriage portions for the 
daughters. 

When marriages were celebrated on these river plantations 
the guests came from as much as twenty miles in boats rowed 
by stalwart negroes. They remained for the night and con- 
tinued the festivities the next day. On the return voyage 
the negro oarsmen kept time to their oars with improvised 
songs in honor of the bride and the groom. 

The plantation furnished everything for the table except 
wines and groceries. The extensive forests were not only 
filled with deer and other game, but the "ranges" offered ample 
pasture for cattle, hogs, and poultry. The rivers were filled 
with the choicest fish, and the marshes with birds and wild 
fowl, which were brought in by the same slaves who cultivated 
the crops and performed the household tasks. I knew very 
few planters whose cash expenditures — even with lavish hospi- 
tality — exceeded $15,000 annually, and their annual outlay 
was generally under $10,000. though of course there were 
exceptions, some of the planters having inherited enormous 
estates. Occasionally, after a season of moderate economy, a 
family would make an excursion to New York, Saratoga, or 
Newport, where the expense of living was greater. This habit 
was confined, however, to the richer class, who lived on in- 
herited investments. 

The rice planters on the Black, Pee Dee, Samput, Wacca- 
maw, and Santee rivers were gentlemen of culture, educated 
at Northern colleges or in Europe, who rarely sought the high 
and remunerative offices, but accepted without reluctance local 
appointments as school, charity, and road commissioners, and 
were ready to represent their district in the State legislature. 
The choice of candidates for the State offices, for Congress, 
and for Federal appointments depended on the initiative of 



6 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

friends and neighbors, who gave pubhc notice of their selec- 
tion in the local journals. There were no nominating conven- 
tions or political caucuses. It was quite common to see in 
the columns of the Georgetown and Charleston papers con- 
siderable space given over to nomination notices, which simply 
declared that "many voters desired to nominate" a given person 
for a given office, and solicited the suffrages of the citizens 
accordingly. Politics were rather ignored in the drawing- 
room, not because the ladies were supposed to be ignorant or 
out of sympathy with the questions of the day (on the con- 
trary they rather cultivated a taste for public affairs), but 
as a matter of good form, because Southern gallantry held 
that social occasions should be devoted mainly to the amuse- 
ments of polite society. 

The gentlemen of the South, while largely interested in the 
contests of the turf, were also sportsmen admirably trained and 
equipped for the chase of the deer and other game to be found 
in the boundless forests and for taking the numerous and varied 
fish in the rivers. To minister to these manly tastes and pro- 
vide opportunities for meeting one another at regular intervals, 
they erected clubhouses of pine logs in central locations in the 
forests. Hither the hunters came to partake of their booty, 
which was prepared for them by the most skillful cooks, and 
which they washed down with rare wines. The toasts were 
largely devoted to State and national politics, and it was just 
here in these clubs, perhaps, that the intense Southern feeling 
was generated which afterward produced such notable results. 
National and sectional questions were discussed on their merits, 
not absolutely without personal or political bias, of course, but 
without the least taint of what is now called machine politics. 
Although opposition to the public policy of certain leaders in 
the State was a bar to political advancement, still personal 
character was an essential to public employment, from the 
lowest to the highest offices, municipal. State, and Federal — 
a conception of the civil service which we need in these days 
at the North. I cannot recall a single official in Georgetown or 
in Charleston, during my residence in these places before the 



OLD SOUTH CAROLINA DAYS 7 

War, against whom an unworthy pubhc or private act could 
be justly charged. 

Whatever may be alleged against slavery in the abstract, as 
being inconsistent with the doctrine of a Republic and the 
Jeffersonian fiction that "All men are created equal," there can 
be no doubt that, either flowing from or merely coincident with 
slavery, there existed in the South before the War a remarkably 
high standard of public and private integrity. And there is 
real danger that energy in the accumulation of wealth may 
bring with it the business frauds and political corruption so 
prevalent in Northern cities. It is still a question whether the 
black man of the South is to be benefited practically by eman- 
cipation, since his free brother of the North, after over a hun- 
dred years of freedom, is yet his inferior in morality, intel- 
ligence, comfort, and usefulness. The negro is doomed, I fear, 
to the slavery of labor at the South, as before, without the 
compensation of the affectionate care for his person from child- 
hood to old age which slavery afforded ; and it is greatly to 
be doubted if the future will produce the prosperity and re- 
finement among the whites which characterized the earlier 
patriarchal regime. 

In the spring of 1841 Ex-President Martin Van Buren vis- 
ited his Ex-Secretary of War, Joel R. Poinsett, at his rice plan- 
tation, called " The White House " — very suggestive ! — near 
Georgetown. In the course of this visit Mr. Van Buren, " the 
Northern man with Southern principles," as he was then called, 
was lavishly entertained by the Pee Dee Club. The Club gave 
a banquet in his honor to which the members contributed (as 
was their custom at festive dinners), not only their rare wines, 
the antiquity and vintage of each bottle of which they proudly 
heralded, but also venison, wild ducks, and turkeys, and even 
New York beef and English Southdown mutton. In serving 
the principal dish, a rare saddle of mutton, the colored steward, 
overexcited by the momentousness of the occasion (for colored 
servants of that kind shared the pride of their masters), while 
reaching over the shoulder of his master, John H. Tucker, 
who was presiding with his usual dignity, tipped the platter. 



8 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

filled with rich gravy, just enough to pour nearly a pint of 
it between Mr. Tucker's shirt collar and his neck. The old 
Chesterfield did not change his countenance for a moment, 
but continued his conversation with his right-hand neighbor, 
Mr. Van Buren, as if nothing had happened. Mr. Van Buren 
said afterward it was the finest example of good breeding he 
had ever witnessed. 

The guests at the Van Buren banquet, at which I was privi- 
leged to be present, were the leading citizens of Georgetown 
and Charleston. They were, as near as I can remember : John 
H. Tucker, who presided ; Ex-Governor Robert F. W. Allston ; 
John H. Allston ; Col. Pinckney Allston ; Col. John Ash Alls- 
ton ; John Izzard Middleton, member of the Legislature ; 
Henry A. Middleton ; John Alexander Keith ; James Smith ; 
Col. Donald L. McKay, president of the Bank of George- 
town ; Eleazar Waterman, editor of the leading journal of 
Georgetown : Stephen Ford ; J. Ress Ford ; Col. S. T. Gaillard ; 
Dr. James R. Sparkman ; State Senator John W. Coach- 
man ; Benjamin H. Wilson ; William Bull Pringle ; Dr. Prior ; 
Rev. Mr. Glennie ; Rev. Harvey M. Lance ; Francis R. Shackel- 
ford ; General Thomas G. Carr ; Colonel I. Havilson Reed, 
member of the Legislature ; Alexander Robertson, a commis- 
sion merchant of Charleston ; James G. Henning ; Major Wil- 
liam W. Trapier ; Colonel John Chapman ; Anthony W. Dozier ; 
Richard Dozier ; Major Samuel Atkinson ; Colonel Joshua John 
Ward, a rice planter ; Dr. E. T. Heriot ; State Senator J. W. 
Wilkinson ; Judge Frost : Chancellor Duncan ; Alfred Huger, 
postmaster of Charleston ; Colonel Hayne, United States 
Senator ; Capt. Petigru of the United States Navy ; General 
James M. Commander ; E. B. Rothmakler ; and Henry W. 
Connor, president of the Bank of Charleston. These names 
are all familiar to present Georgetonians, by whom they are 
held in grateful remembrance. 

The Allstons above mentioned were the same stock as the 
painter, Washington Allston, who was born at Waccamaw in 
1799, three years after the Declaration of Independence. The 
journal of Josiah Ouincy of Massachusetts, who visited South 



OLD SOUTH CAROLINA DAYS 9 

Carolina in 1773-74, gives the following description of " The 
Oaks," the plantation of Joseph AUston, on the Waccamaw : 

" March 23d — Spent the night at Mr. Joseph Allston's, a 
gentleman of immense income, all of his own acquisition. His 
plantations, negroes, gardens, etc., are in the best order I have 
ever seen. He has propagated the Lisbon and Wine Island 
grapes with great success. I was entertained with true hos- 
pitality and benevolence by his family. His good lady filled 
a wallet with bread, biscuit, wine, fowl, and tongue and pre- 
sented it to me next morning. The wine I declined, but gladly 
accepted the rest. At 12 o'clock, in a sandy pine desert, I 
enjoyed a fine repast, and having met with a refreshing spring 
I remembered my worthy host, Mr. Allston, and his lady with 
a warmth of affection and hearty benisons. Mr. Allston sent 
his servant as our guide between thirty and forty miles, much 
to our preservation from many vexatious difficulties." 

George W. Flag, a nephew and pupil of Washington Alls- 
ton, who was a schoolmate of mine at the Academy of the 
Winyah Indigo Society, was born in New Haven, Conn., where 
his father, a distinguished member of the Georgetown Bar, 
spent his summers. Flag's portrait of Bishop England, in 
Charleston, early won him prominence. 

It may not be out of place to remark that before the de- 
struction of art collections in the South by the Civil War, the 
Georgetown District possessed many of the rarest and best 
specimens of Reynolds, Copley, West, Allston, Stuart, Sully, 
Lely, and Gainsborough. 

The military titles in the above list are all legitimate, and 
yet are only a part of the legitimate titles that might have 
been used. Apart from the taste for military affairs of Caro- 
linians generally, the law tended to encourage and maintain 
a high degree of efficiency in the volunteer forces of the State. 
Company, battalion, and regimental trainings were frequent, 
and, in addition, every two years all the officers from sergeants 
to generals were assembled for ten days in camp to be drilled 



lo REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

in the requirements of a common soldier under the direction 
of the Governor of the State. On these occasions, inefficiency 
or lack of conformity to discipline rendered an officer liable 
to be degraded or fined by a court-martial. In order to keep 
in the ranks the wealthy as well as the laboring white popula- 
tion, the fine for non-attendance on company or regimental 
drills or parades, which was but $1.50 for a person without 
property, was supplemented in the case of a person of means 
by an assessment of fifty per cent, on his last general tax ; 
so that, while the mechanic earning $3.00 a day for his labor, 
but having no general tax, could well afiford to neglect military 
duty, the planter or other person of wealth paying a thousand- 
dollar tax would find it to his interest to parade in his com- 
pany rather than to risk being condemned to pay $501.50 for 
defaulting, by a court-martial that never failed to inflict and 
enforce the penalty. This system kept the ranks of the militia 
filled with the wealth and intelligence of the State, and tended 
also to build up well-trained volunteer companies and regi- 
ments. I was not quite of age when elected major of the 
Thirty-first Regiment. In fact, very young men were ac- 
customed to seek for military offices as social and political 
stepping stones. 

The ancestors of the people of South Carolina, as is well 
known, stood shoulder to shoulder with the troops of the 
North in the struggle for Independence. The heroic devotion 
of South Carolina, and of Georgetown in particular, to the 
cause, was recognized and commended by Washington in the 
following letter : 

" To THE Inhabitants of Georgetown and of its Vicinity, 
" Gentlemen: — I received your congratulations on my ar- 
rival in South Carolina with real pleasure, and I confess my 
obligation to your affectionate regard with sincere grat- 
itude. 

" While the calamities to which you were exposed during 
the war excited all my sympathy, the gallantry and firmness 
with which thev were encountered obtained mv entire esteem. 



OLD SOUTH CAROLINA DAYS ii 

To your fortitude in those trying scenes our country is much 
indebted for the happy and honorable issue of the contest. 

" From the milder virtues that characterise your conduct 
in peace our equal Government will derive those aids which 
may render its operations extensively beneficial. 

" That your participation of every natural advantage and 
your propriety in private life may be amply proportioned to 
your past services and sufferings is my sincere and fervid wish. 

" G. Washington. 

" April 29, 1791." 

Our school histories are filled with incidents of personal 
bravery during the Revolutionary War, but standing out prom- 
inently in the early reading of every boy South and North, is 
tlie life of General Marion, who was a native of Georgetown. 
Georgetown was the point of departure of many of his daring 
military achievements. But his successful campaigns were by 
no means confined at home. He was the hero of the capture 
of Fort Johnson from the British at Charleston, as he was 
in repelling the British fleet in their attacks on Fort Moultrie. 
He was the chief defender of Savannah and Charleston against 
the British under General Prevost, until overpowered on land 
and sea by the British fleet co-operating with a superior army. 
When General Gates was defeated at Camden, Marion's bri- 
gade came to the rescue and recaptured most of the prisoners 
from the British victors. Indeed, Marion's name figures in 
almost every military campaign of the Southern army. 

I cannot resist repeating an old story of Marion, since it 
is one of the most interesting incidents of our Revolution. It 
appears that a British officer, bearing dispatches concerning 
an exchange of prisoners, was led blindfolded into Marion's 
camp. The bandages being removed, he was astonished at 
discovering the redoubtable partisan leader to be the smallest 
person in his army. At dinner, to which he was invited, this 
British officer was further astonished at finding the meal to 
consist only of a peck of sweet potatoes, roasted in the ashes 
of a camp fire and served upon a fallen log; the drink was 



12 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

vinegar. The officer could not resist commenting on the 
poverty of the fare, and was assured it was better than usual. 
" But your commissariat? " " We have none." " Your pay is 
good ? " "I have never received a dollar for my services, nor 
have my people." " What motive have you for fighting? " " We 
fight for the love of liberty." It is reported that the British 
officer was so much impressed with the conversation that, on 
his return to Charleston, he resigned his commission and re- 
tired from the service. It was truly said of this great Caro- 
linian, Marion, when he died, that he was one of the purest 
men, truest patriots, and most efficient generals our country 
has ever produced. 

"We follow where the Fox Swamp guides; 
His friends and merry men are we; 
And where the troop of Tarleton rides, 
We burrow in the cypress tree; 
The turfy hammock is our bed. 
Our home is in the red deer's den, 
Our roof, the treetops overhead. 
For we are wild and hunted men." 

It is to this South Carolina heritage of a Marion, a Moul- 
trie, a Henry, a Pickens, and a Sumter that is due in a large 
measure the State pride which sent into the fields of Mexico 
the fearless Palmetto Regiment led by Colonel (Ex-Governor) 
Butler, who fell in battle at the head of his troops. I recall 
with pride that my first commission from the State bears the 
signature of this gallant officer. 

All Georgetown and, indeed. Charleston sixty years ago, 
knew the erratic wit, Burlington Thomas. I remember one 
of his visits to a planter's family on Pee Dee, where he had 
taken a fancy to a lovely young lady, and where he had often 
inveighed against the stilted language used at times by students 
returning from colleges at the North and by the young ladies 
from the fashionable boarding schools of Charleston. 

He drove up to the piazza filled with guests, in what was 
then called a sulky, and, as he handed the reins to the negro 



OLD SOUTH CAROLINA DAYS 13 

servant, looked at him with great earnestness and delivered 
the following : " Boy, take this quadruped, stabulate him, 
donate to him an adequate supply of nutritious aliment, and 
when Aurora illumines the eastern horizon, I will compensate 
you for your generous hospitality." The negro dropped the 
reins and ran to his master, saying, " There is a crazy buckra 
at the door." 

There is a story told of Thomas that while at Yale or some 
other Eastern college, he went through the town with other 
students one night reversing the signs in a very ludicrous 
manner, putting a barber's sign over a banker's office, a tailor's 
sign over a milliner's shop, a shoemaker's sign, bearing the 
words " soles mended and kept in good order," over a clergy- 
man's door, etc. Now just as they had taken down a tailor's 
sign, several professors came in sight. They ran with the 
sign to the dormitory and the professors followed. On reach- 
ing the room of Thomas, the graceless roisterers hastily placed 
the sign, letters down, on two chairs and locked the door. 
Then Thomas, opening his Bible, read in a loud voice, as the 
professors stood listening at the door, " A wicked and an 
adulterous generation seeketh for a sign, but no sign shall be 
given them." Barely able to keep from laughing aloud, the 
professors turned and went downstairs, leaving the Scripture- 
reading students to their devotions. 

Shortly after the War I told these stories at a dinner party 
in Charleston, and Richard Yeadon, the editor of the Charles- 
ton Courier, printed them both in his journal the next day. 
At this dinner I was asked whether I could recall any anecdotes 
of life among the Yankees, in which language had been tor- 
tured for expression. I replied that I remembered an incident 
which occurred at Huntington, Long Island, and then related 
the following: 

A wealthy but uncultured family gave a welcome-home dinner 
to their daughter on her graduation from a fashionable female 
institution in New England, where she had been so crammed 
with highfalutin language and sentiment as to have been un- 
able to digest either. A number of the young men of the 



14 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

neighborhood were invited. These young men, anxious to 
commend themselves to a person of so much wealth and 
culture, were so over-eager in helping her to the sumptuous 
dishes before them that she became quite weary of their po- 
liteness, and to protect herself against further attentions, as- 
sured them that she had " eaten her full sufficiency," and was 
" sisininified quite up to her twaddy." The young men, imag- 
ining " twaddy " to be a part of the stomach which had been 
revealed to her by her studies at school, looked at her in- 
quiringly, whereupon the fond and proud mother explained: 
" My daughter is so high grandee dictionary gumfroggeted 
as to hardly express herself intelligently to common people." 
Another Georgetonian, Ex-Governor John Lyde Wilson, was 
celebrated as an authority on dueling. He published a " Code 
of Honor," which was recognized as law in the settlement 
of personal differences between gentlemen. Before leaving 
my old home in Georgetown, I co-operated in what was, per- 
haps, the last appeal there to this Code. The parties were 
Gen. Carr and Col. Rich, both justly popular, who lived to 
serve in the army of the Confederacy with credit. Their 
friends met at my residence and effected a settlement in ac- 
cordance with the requirements of the Code and honorable to 
the contestants — without resort to firearms. The names of 
the gentlemen present, as nearly as I can recall, after a lapse 
of fifty years, were : Judge, afterward United States Senator, 
A. P. Butler ; Captain Petigru, of the United States Navy, and 
brother of the distinguished jurist and Union man, James Peti- 
gru ; State Senator John W. Coachman ; Col. D. L. McKay, 
president of the bank of Georgetown ; Gen. James M. Com- 
mander; Dr. James Sparkman, and Major William Trapier. 
It was my first and only experience with this curious insti- 
tution, which, while not justified by religious principles and 
out of harmony with modem civilization, yet had the redeem- 
ing quality of largely suppressing outbursts of passion, per- 
sonal abuse, and outrage, and of promoting the good manners 
and the strict regard for social amenities of which the South 
is justly proud. 



OLD SOUTH CAROLINA DAYS 15 

Judge O'Neal's " Bench and Bar of South Carolina " de- 
clares that the learned Judge Burke was a friend of this mode 
of settling private differences. It relates an amusing instance 
of his participation, as the second of Col. Burr (who after- 
ward killed in a duel the patriot Alexander Hamilton) in an 
affair with John B. Church, Esq. It appears that Col. Burr's 
pistol balls were purposely cast too small, so as to be rammed 
home with chamois leather for patches. To facilitate this load- 
ing process, grease was placed in the case, but Burke, in his 
hurry, forgetting to use the grease, found himself unable to 
ram the ball home or to withdraw it. When he was reproved 
for his carelessness by his principal, he replied, " I forgot to 
grease the leather, but you see Mr. Church is ready ; don't 
keep him waiting. Just take a crack at him as it is, and I'll 
take care to grease the ne.xt load for you." 

Bishop England, Roman Catholic Bishop of South Caro- 
lina, whose influence extended beyond his church, gave the 
first check to dueling in that State, and indeed in the South, 
by forming the leading gentlemen of the State into an Anti- 
Dueling Association. Society in South Carolina was then 
devoid of Puritanism, and was not divided along sectarian 
lines. I remember going in my boyhood with my mother, an 
earnest Episcopalian, to a night service in the Georgetown 
Methodist Church to hear an eloquent sermon delivered from 
a Protestant pulpit by this Roman Catholic Bishop, her coun- 
tryman and guest, before an audience of whom nine-tenths 
were Protestants accompanied by their rectors or preachers. 

Bishop England was the first, if not the only Roman Catho- 
lic priest who had the honor of being invited by Congress to 
preach in the House of Representatives. He was the author 
of many literary works. He established in Charleston the 
first Catholic journal in the South. The jurist, James L. 
Petigru, and a number of other public men of his time profited 
by his ecclesiastical and philosophical instruction. He was 
the founder of the Orphan Asylum and the early free schools 
of the city and was among the chief promoters of its charities. 

He was beloved by all the cultured people of the State, and 



i6 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

no social or learned assembly in Charleston was complete 
that did not include this talented and genial Irishman. 

He lived to a ripe old age with his maiden sister, dispensing 
the hospitality of his bachelor home to all the distinguished 
strangers visiting Charleston. His visitors found it a rare 
privilege to converse with him over a glass of Irish whisky 
or a bottle of Madeira, with which his cellar was kept well 
stocked by his numerous friends in those days of glorious 
old Charleston, enervated now, alas ! by Puritanism that lacks 
the virtues of Puritanism. 

Gratitude impels me to express my obligations to my friends, 
Joseph Thurston, at one time special partner in my commis- 
sion business in New York, and Colonel D. L. McKay, the 
president of the Bank of Georgetown and afterward the presi- 
dent of the People's Bank in Charleston, who saved me from 
threatened bankruptcy when the business portion of the city 
of Georgetown was destroyed by fire and with it my stores 
and warehouses and most of my merchandise ; and it is one 
of the happiest reflections of my life that I was able after 
the disasters of the Civil War to repay in kind, to a degree 
at least, these friendly services. 

As already related, I had been put into a large business by 
wealthy parties, my own capital being quite inadequate. Con- 
scious of my comparative inexperience, I laid my aflfairs open 
to the banking friends mentioned above, thus retaining their 
confidence and receiving their advice and support. One sum- 
mer as I was lying ill of a bilious fever in Georgetown, Col. 
McKay called to see me and generously proposed that while I 
was confined to my bed, he should direct the cashier of his 
bank to pay any maturing notes which I. as the book-keeper 
of the firm, should specify ; and that deposits of the daily 
income of the business should be made to the credit of these 
payments till I should be able to attend to them myself. I 
accepted this generous offer, which relieved me of an anxiety 
that the doctors had declared was increasing the malady. By 
the advice of the phvsicians I was removed to Charleston for 
a change of air, and after another attack in Charleston which 



OLD SOUTH CAROLINA DAYS 17 

kept me in bed two weeks in a hotel, I returned to Georgetown 
to find that the whole business part of the city was in ashes — 
my own residence being destroyed by the fire and all my 
stores except one or two small package-storage buildings on 
the wharf. 

That this fire was not my complete undoing was attributable 
in a large measure to a bit of foresight on my part which I 
describe here, since it may prove of value to young merchants. 

In looking over the large supply of merchandise, much 
of it stored in wooden warehouses on my wharf, and 
large accounts embodying extensive yearly credits to my 
customers — who were planters and country merchants — I 
had been struck by the possible danger of a devastating fire 
in this combustible part of the business section of the town, 
whose only provision against such a calamity was a few hand 
engines. My fire insurance policy would protect me against 
total loss, to be sure, but I saw that if my account books, the 
only evidence of the larger part of my assets, were destroyed, 
I should be ruined beyond salvation. Therefore I posted up 
over my iron safe in the counting room, this printed notice: 
"In case of fire on the premises, all parties are hereby re- 
quested before attempting to save any of the property, to have 
the Iron Safe and the account books in the counting room 
immediately sent, at any expense of time or money, to the city 
Arsenal" (an isolated fire-proof building on the edge of the 
town). This very conspicuous order attracted a great deal of 
attention and caused no small amount of laughter at my ex- 
pense. The conflagration already referred to took place a 
few months after, and laid that part of the town in ashes. 
But the clerks and a junior partner followed the printed direc- 
tions and the books were saved, and with them the writer's 
ability to sustain, with the aid of his insurance, the heavy loss 
of merchandise, and so secure the credit necessary to rebuild 
the stores and stock them again. 

Another eminent person who was closely associated with 
Georgetown was Mrs. Louisa S. McCord (daughter of Hon. 
Langdon Cleves and widow of Col. McCord), a typical 



i8 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

Southern woman, who was both essayist and poet, and who 
also translated a part of the works of the French economist, 
Bastiat, to read whose writings in the original I subsequently 
learned French. Mrs. McCord was the benefactress of her 
numerous slaves in health and their nurse in sickness ; she 
conducted a hospital on her plantation and, on one occasion, 
in the absence of a surgeon, she set a slave's fractured arm. 
She replied in the Westminster Reviezv to the allegations of 
Mrs. Stowe's " Uncle Tom's Cabin " in a masterly manner. 

On the Fourth of July, 1841, I made my first public address, 
having been appointed orator of the day by the Town Council 
of Georgetown. A military and civic parade marched from the 
old Town Hall through the principal streets to the venerable 
Methodist Church. There, arm in arm with the scholarly 
gentleman appointed to read the Declaration of Independence, 
I ascended the high, old-fashioned pulpit while the band 
played the soul-stirring hymn "Hail Columbia," and faced 
a large audience composed of ladies and gentlemen from all 
parts of an extensive district, as well as the members of my 
own battalion of the Thirty-first Regiment, who had but re- 
cently elected me their major. A fervent prayer by a devout 
and patriotic clergyman, the thrilling words of Jefferson's 
Declaration of Independence rendered by an accomplished 
reader, and last but not least, the soul-stirring notes of the 
national anthem, by which the Southern lyrist, Key of Mary- 
land, has fired the loyal American heart on many a battle 
field (as another Southern lyrist, Randall of Georgia, after- 
ward fired the Southern heart of the Confederacy), were well 
calculated to fill with dismay a young man not yet accustomed to 
public speaking; and I think I should have fainted as I rose 
to address my audience had it not been for their kindly ap- 
plause, which they saw I needed. While recalling with pride 
and pleasure this incident in my early life, yet, after the 
lapse of sixty years, I find myself much sobered by the sad 
reflection that not five of those present on that occasion are 
now living. 

Rev. Harvey M. Lance (an ex-rector of the parish Prince 



OLD SOUTH CAROLINA DAYS 19 

George Winyah of Georgetown), with whom I was associated 
as a fellow-vestryman after he had resigned his rectorship, was 
a leader in every social and religious enterprise of the district 
and parish of Georgetown, and a prominent figure in the 
diocesan councils of the State, where his good judgment 
and conservatism exercised a controlling influence. His planta- 
tion house at Pee Dee was for many years the intellectual center 
of the life of Georgetown. In this connection I recall an 
incident not unlike that of the setting aside, by the courts of 
New York, of an important provision in the trusts of the will 
of Samuel J. Tilden, carefully drawn by himself, which goes 
to show that human language is quite helpless, where the 
conveyance of a large estate is concerned, against the in- 
genuity of lawyers who can command good fees. The wealthy 
relatives of Mrs. Lance, having a baseless prejudice against 
Mr. Lance, constructed, with the aid of one of the most astute 
legal lights in Charleston, a trust will in favor of Mrs. Lance 
and their children, by which Mr. Lance was not only cut off 
from any direct participation in the estate, but by which he 
was prevented from exercising any supervision over it. In 
due time Mr. Lance, deeming that he could manage the prop- 
erty for his children better than it was being managed, actually 
employed the same learned counsel who fabricated the stringent 
conditions of the will, to go into court and overthrow the 
ver}' trusts he had so skillfully drawn. The result was that 
Mr. Lance was given full management of the estate, to its 
great advantage. 

I was introduced by Mr. Lance to the Rev. PhiHp Slaughter, 
D. D., of Virginia. Dr. Slaughter was a typical Virginian 
of the old school, a learned, zealous, eloquent churchman, and a 
firm defender of the doctrine of State Rights, just beginning 
to be transformed into the heresy of State Sovereignty in retalia- 
tion for the aggressions of the fanatical New England Aboli- 
tionists. He was, by reason of his energj' and eloquence, among 
the most popular and efficient spiritual powers in the Southern 
Episcopal Church, where he exerted an influence not unHke the 
influence exerted by Whitfield, in the early days, upon the 



20 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

Methodist Church in Georgia. While visiting him at his 
lovely home in Fredericksburg I met the distinguished geolo- 
gist and engineer Edmund Ruffin, who subsequently made him- 
self odious at the North and shipwrecked his former well- 
earned reputation by foolishly asking and gaining permission 
to fire the first gun from Fort Sumter at the flag of his country. 
Dr. Slaughter died in 1890, and I was accorded the privilege 
of contributing, with my family and friends, to the erection 
in Virginia of a suitable monument to his memory. 

In the summer of 1844, in company with Dr. Slaughter and 
Mr. Lance, I made a trip through New England, terminating 
at Newport, R. I., where I was presented by these clerical 
friends to the family of the lady whom I subsequently mar- 
ried — the Thurstons of Bond Street, New York. 

On returning to New York after the New England tour we 
decided to go on an excursion up the Harlem Railroad— a com- 
pletely new mode of transit from the City Hall into the rural 
districts of Westchester County. At the station in front of 
the Astor House, which was then the starting-point of the road, 
I remarked jocosely to my two friends who were about enter- 
ing a forward car that if they were experienced railway trav- 
elers, like myself, they would take one of the rear cars for 
greater security against the frequent accidents of the times. 
Mr. Lance, with his usual good-natured irony, remarked 
laughingly to Mr. Slaughter, " Let us follow the advice of our 
venerable and experienced traveler," and we all took seats 
in the very last car of the train. Now, unfortunately, in pass- 
ing over one of the highest embankments just outside of the 
city, the axle of our car broke and the car made a complete 
revolution, as it tumbled down the inclined plane of a fifty- 
foot embankment, and actually regained its proper position 
on the level below. Of course the somersault of the car 
produced broken legs and arms and other injuries, but no 
one was killed. I was among the wounded, being somewhat 
badly cut on the forehead. Indeed, I bear a scar as a remem- 
brance of the accident to this day. I was escorted by my 
two friends, neither of whom had received a scratch, to the 



OLD SOUTH CAROLINA DAYS 



21 



Astor House, where the wound was attended to by a sur-eon 
and pronounced not serious. But I could not refrain from'tell- 
ing my priestly friends that I was the vicarious otTerino- to 
carry their sins. 

July 9, 1846, I was married in St. Thomas' Church New 
York, by Bishop Whitehouse, to Abby Pitman Thurston 
eldest daughter of the banker, Charles M. Thurston. 

On our wedding trip we went up the Erie Canal on a canal- 
boat to Niagara, where we stayed at the Cataract House 
We also passed through Boston, stopping at the Revere House 
kept by Paran Stevens, whose wife afterwards cut a ficrure 
m society. The Revere House had just eclipsed the Tremont 
House, which had hitherto been to Boston what the Astor 
House, which it resembled architecturally, was to New York. 
The morning following our arrival, my boots, which I had 
placed outside the door, were missing. It was the custom of 
this hotel to send the boots of its guests out to be polished 
(they were hung by their straps on a long pole and carried 
by a colored man through the city streets), and in some in- 
explicable way mine had been either lost or stolen. The hotel 
reimbursed me for my loss, of course, but somewhat re- 
luctantly, since it considered the price I had paid, $20, ex- 
cessive even for wedding boots. 

While Airs. Lathers and I were on our way north to New 
York, in May, 1847, we found the leading people of Charieston 
veiy much engaged in entertaining Mr. and Mrs. Daniel 
Webster. It is necessary at this point to go back a little 
In 1822, or thereabouts, it was discovered that a dangerous con- 
spiracy had been organized among the Charleston negroes by 
free negroes from the North posing as preachers. The lead- 
ing gentlemen of the place were to be assassinated, the money 
m the banks was to be stolen, and such white ladies as were 
considered desirable for mistresses were to be seized. This 
done, the conspirators were to embark in some of the vessels 
at the wharves for San Domingo. It had long been the custom 
in Charieston, in case of fire, for the leading citizens to take 
horse and attend the fire as a sort of police. This well- 



22 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

matured conspiracy contemplated setting fire to several sections 
of the city at once, and made it the duty of each negro hostler 
to shoot his master as he vaulted into the saddle, in order 
to deprive the city of its defense. Unluckily for the con- 
spirators, one of their number, anxious to save his master and 
family, cautioned them in such a way that a full exposure fol- 
lowed. Several of the Northern and local conspirators were 
arrested and hanged. They made a full confession on the 
gallows. 

In view of the constant menace of this kind of an outbreak 
and the open incitement of the slaves to murder by Northern 
fanatics, the Legislature enacted a law which prohibited the 
free negroes of other States from entering South Carolina 
unless they complied with the law, which required colored 
sailors coming into the State on vessels from Northern ports 
to be confined ashore under police regulations until their ves- 
sels were ready to leave. This law was enforced by very 
gentle means, and comfortable quarters given to the sailors 
while their vessels remained in the harbor. But the Abolition 
element, in no way connected with commerce, began to agitate 
the subject on the ground that these negroes were free citi- 
zens of free States, and had a right of visit and transit of 
which State laws or police regulations could not deprive them. 
A distinguished New England lawyer was sent to Charleston 
to contest the law, but found a hostile feeling too strong to 
encounter with personal safety, and returned home. Then 
Daniel Webster was employed to lay the matter before the 
United States District Court in Charleston, which he did, but 
without success. On the announcement of his appointment to 
this unwelcome mission, the principal lawyers determined that 
his visit should be made pleasant for him notwithstanding the 
hostile purpose of those employing him. Webster was the 
life-lcHig friend of John C. Calhoun, and his career as a lawyer 
and a broad-minded statesman entitled him in their view to the 
fullest measure of Southern hospitality. 

It was carefully arranged that a private dinner and a private 
ball should be given Mr. and Mrs. Webster every day and 



OLD SOUTH CAROLINA DAYS 23 

evening of their visit. The leading families vied with each 
other in extending these courtesies, and the series was crowned 
by the most brilHant Bar Dinner which ever took place in 
Charleston, the principal speech of welcome being made by 
Mr. Webster's former antagonist in the Senate, Colonel Robert 
Y. Hayne. I had the honor of meeting Mr. and Mrs. Web- 
ster at one of these dinner parties. When the ladies had re- 
tired, our host produced a bottle of Madeira wine which he 
said had been bottled by his grandfather over seventy years 
before. One of the guests, a mathematician, after figuring on 
the back of a letter, remarked that if that bottle of wine 
was worth, when bottled, twenty-five cents, its present 
value at compound interest would reach over a hundred 
dollars. 

At this moment a servant announced that the carriage was 
at the door to convey Mr. Webster to the ball given in his 

honor at Mrs. 's. A number of the guests went out to seat 

Mr. Webster in the carriage. One of them, while folding up 
the old-fashioned carriage step, found Mr. Webster's foot 
obstructing it and inquired if he desired to alight. " Yes," 
he replied quickly, " I want to go back and help our mathe- 
matical friend stop the interest on that damned expensive 
bottle of wine." The next day Mrs. Lathers and I embarked 
on the steamer for New York, and found Mr. and Mrs. Web- 
ster seated on two handsome stuffed chairs with an awning 
spread over them, which had been specially made for their com- 
fort by order of the agent of the line. On a small table 
beside them which was screwed to the deck were a few glasses, 
a pitcher of ice water, a bottle of old brandy, and a basket 
of crackers and cheese. Of course, this group attracted the 
passengers irresistibly, and Mr. Webster's anecdotes and his 
observations on current events were the charm of the voyage. 
Mr. Webster seemed to relax greatly as he imbibed frequently 
the cheering fluid before him, and he gave out to his admirmg 
audience reminiscences of senatorial contests in which Mr. 
Calhoun and Mr. Hayne came in for his profound admiration. 
The morning of the second day out, a passenger met him and 



24 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

congratulated him on his early appearance on deck. He re- 
plied in a tone of much feeling: 

" The morning is sweet, fresh, and delightful. Everybody 
knows that morning is applied metaphorically to many ob- 
jects and to many occasions. The health, strength, and beauty 
of early years have given to that period the name of the morn- 
ing of life. Of a young woman we say she is as bright as 
the morning, and no one doubts why Lucifer is called the 
son of the morning. But the morning, few of the inhabitants 
of cities know anything about. Among the people of Boston, 
not one in a thousand sees the morning sun once in a year. 
Their idea is that it is part of the day which comes along after 
a cup of coffee, a beefsteak, or a piece of toast. With them, 
morning is not a new issuing of light, a new bursting forth 
of the sun, a new waking up of all that has life from a sort 
of temporary death to behold again the works of God — the 
heavens and the earth. It is to them only a part of the domes- 
tic day belonging to breakfast, to reading the newspapers, an- 
swering notes, sending the children to school, and giving orders 
for dinner. The first faint streak of light, the earliest purpling 
of the east which the lark springs up to greet, and the deeper 
and deeper coloring into orange and red, till at length the 
glorious sun is seen. Regent of day — this they never enjoy ; for 
this they have never seen. Beautiful descriptions of the morning 
abound in all languages, but they are the strongest, perhaps, 
in those of the East, where the sun is often an object of wor- 
ship. King David speaks of taking to himself the wings of 
the morning. This is highly poetic and beautiful. The wings 
of the morning are the beams of the rising sun. Rays of light 
are wings. It is thus said that the Son of Righteousness shall 
arise, with healing in his wings, a rising sun which shall 
scatter light and health and joy throughout the universe. 
Milton has fine descriptions of morning, but not so many as 
Shakespeare, from whose writings pages of the most beautiful 
images, all founded on the glory of the morning, might be 
filled." 



OLD SOUTH CAROLINA DAYS 25 

After this rhapsody he paused, as we were all electrified by 
his fervent eloquence, and in a lower voice resumed, " I know 
the morning, I am acquainted with it and love it, fresh and 
sweet as it is-a daily new creation breaking forth and calling 
all that have life and breath and being to new adoration, new 
enjoyment and new gratitude." Good memory that I have 
I have, nevertheless, been able to recall Mr. Webster's langua-e 
only by the aid of a private letter on the same subject with 
which I was afterward favored. 

Mr. Webster's self-possession and commanding influence 
are verified by an anecdote told me by Moses Grinnel his 
hfelong and intimate friend. The evening before his speech 
in front of the Exchange, he was receiving at the Astor House 
his hosts of admirers of both parties, when Grinnel and 
Simeon Draper (Whig leaders at that time) dropped in and 
whispered in his ear that his note for $10,000 in the Bank of 
America, of which they were the endorsers, would fall due the 
next day, expressing at the same time much regret for inter- 
rupting him during the reception. Mr. Webster, raising up 
his head and straightening his body to his full height said 
with becoming dignity, " Gentlemen, if it is due to-morrozv 
let It be paid," and it was paid by the endorsers, who had no 
time to enjoy the reception, but rushed about collecting by 
contributions from their friends, the funds necessary to pav 
the obligation to the bank. 

And here, in illustration of another phase of his character, 
I recall another anecdote. 

Mr. Calhoun, in the latter years of his life, was often 
absent from his seat in the Senate bv reason of in- 
disposition. When this happened, Mr. Webster would call 
at his lodgings to inquire as to his health and to relate to 
him the incidents transpiring during the session. On one of 
these occasions, finding he was in low spirits, he remarked: 
"Calhoun, physically, you give no evidence of declining 
health. You must be overanxious in money matters. Are you 
not in debt?" This question rather touched the dignity of 
Calhoun. Webster observing this, took him by the hand and 



26 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

in the most soothing manner said, " Calhoun, there must be 
no undue display of dignity between us. We came into Con- 
gress about the same period and have continued there many 
years representing conflicting opinions which have often drawn 
us into heated sectional debates. But during these debates 
not one word of personal invective has ever escaped our lips." 

Calhoun, deeply moved by these remarks, replied, " I ap- 
preciate deeply your friendly remarks and will respond to 
your question in the spirit in which it is made. I am in debt, 
but I am not insolvent. The fact is, on returning home 
from your New England College, I attempted to pursue the 
law, a profession for which I had been trained, but my fellow 
citizens, as was the case with yours, shoved me into public 
life, from which I have never retired. While my family was 
small, the income of my inherited estate was ample for my 
modest expenditures. But later on the family increased and 
expenses also. I was compelled to place a mortgage on my 
plantation and to rely largely upon my salary as Senator to 
meet my expenses. And, perhaps, as you seemed to judge, I 
was anticipating that in case of my death and the loss of my 
income as Senator my family would be compelled to dispose 
of our homestead." Webster then said, " How much is the 
mortgage?" "Twenty thousand dollars," Calhoun replied. 
" My dear friend, you are too valuable to our country to have 
any anxiety about such a paltry sum as $20,000. I will by 
twelve o'clock to-morrow raise the sum and cancel the mort- 
gage — even if it were twice as large." 

Mr. Calhoun responded his thanks with great emotion, add- 
ing, " You have placed me under an obligation I can never 
repay, but how could a Carolina United States Senator de- 
grade himself by accepting such a charity ? " " Ah." said 
Webster, " Nature should have made you a Puritan of New 
England and me Cavalier of South Carolina; for I would 
have drunk their Madeira wine and borrowed their money 
to keep pace with their utmost liberality." 

Mr. Calhoun, a short time before his death, while giving 
his estimate of his great New England opponent before a large 




John C. Calhoun 

In his maturity, from a portrait owned by Robert N. Gourdin, Esq., 

Charleston. S. C. (Artist unknown) 



OLD SOUTH CAROLINA DAYS 27 

company of statesmen, remarked, " Of all the leading men of 
the day in any country, Daniel Webster's political career has 
been more strongly marked by a strict regard for truth and 
honor than any leading man of the age." 

On the other hand, Webster's eulogy of Calhoun, delivered 
in the Senate, April i, 1850, contained the following passage: 

" Calhoun's eloquence was part of his intellectual charac- 
ter. It grew out of the qualities of his mind. It was plain, 
terse, strong, condensed, concise, sometimes impassioned, still 
always severe. He was a man of undoubted genius, and of 
commanding talent. All the country and all the world admit 
that. He had the basis, the indispensable basis of all high 
character ; and that was unspotted integrity and unimpeached 
honor. Firm in his purpose, perfectly patriotic and honest, 
I do not believe he had a selfish motive or a selfish feeling. 
He has lived long enough, he has done enough, and he has 
done it so well, so successfully, so honorably as to connect 
himself for all time with the records of his country. However 
he may have differed from others of us in his political opin- 
ions, or his political principles, those principles and those opin- 
ions will now descend to posterity under the sanction of a 
great name." 

I insert here three of Calhoun's letters, which have come 
into my hands, the last (written to his eldest son, who was a 
planter in Marengo County, Alabama) having been presented 
me by his grandson as an example of his interest in farming 
and in his family: 

"Washington, 31 May, 1826. 
" Hon. M. Sterling, 

"My Dear Sir: — I received duly your two letters of the 
17th March and 2nd May, which I would have acknowl- 
edged at an earlier period, had I not been prevented 
by the laborious sittings of the Senate and the indisposition 
of my family. It is now no longer doubted that we are on 
the eve of a great political struggle, which the papers in the 
interest of Mr. Adams and Clay attribute to ' factious oppo- 



28 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

sition,' but which, if I do not greatly mistake, springs from 
causes far deeper. I do not believe it possible for any body 
of men, however great their talents and strenuous their ef- 
forts, to rear up a powerful opposition to the Executive of 
the Union, unless there be cause for discontent. A state may 
be easily excited, but nothing can be more difficult than to 
produce a general discontent over the whole of our widely ex- 
tended and diversified country. Not only causes for discon- 
tent must exist, but they must be powerful ones ; such as in 
the opinion of the people are calculated to endanger liberty, 
or arrest the national prosperity. The present general dis- 
content originates in such causes. There are many, and they 
among the cool and vigilant observers of events, who do sin- 
cerely believe, that the liberty of this country was never in 
greater danger than at present. Such I confess is my own im- 
pression. If we examine attentively the structure of our 
government, we will see how easy it is for it to slide into 
Monarchy. The power of the executive is already kingly, 
and in that, which, in modern times, gives danger to power, 
patronage, it is almost without restriction. The executive 
is not Kingly in the extent of its power, but in its organi- 
zation. It is one, a monarch, in the strict meaning of the 
term. How then can we with propriety call a government thus 
organized in its executive branch, a Republick? It is a ques- 
tion deeply important, and which ought to be carefully solved 
by the American people. It is only because it (the executive 
power) is dependent on the people ; or in other words, because 
he who exercises it, must be raised to power and continued 
there by the popular voice. It is this responsibility, which 
makes it democratick. Let the power remain the same, but 
suppose the President to be vested with the power of nominat- 
ing his successor, and it is manifest, that our government 
would no longer be a republick. That single change would make 
it a Monarchy, because the power of the Executive would no 
longer be under responsibility to the people. Let us again 
suppose, a state of things a little short of this, a state in which 
a combination of influential men aided by the power and 



OLD SOUTH CAROLINA DAYS 29 

patronage of the Executive and the defects in the mode of 
election, can designate the Chief Magistrate. It is clear, in 
this state of things, it would be mocking to call our govern- 
ment a republick. Responsibility to the people would be gone. 
They would gradually become insignificant with the loss of 
power; and the whole aim of those in power would be to 
form combinations by enlisting and proscribing such as might 
favor the views of those in power, or oppose, in order to 
strengthen, or perpetuate that power. In a short time, the 
system would work into a state of perfect putrefaction, and 
the honor and emoluments of office would be considered only 
as instruments of bribery. How far are we removed from the 
commencement of this state of things? The final issue of the 
last election depended on a combination in the House of Rep- 
resentatives. He who headed it has been placed by the power 
created by his own efforts in the line of safe presidents. He 
has gone over from the side of the people to the side of power, 
from the speaker's chair to the Department of State ; and the 
translation has been made under circumstances calculated 
deeply to impair his popularity as acknowledged by all, friends 
and foes. If the Presidency can only be reached by the popular 
voice, and if that be his aim, folly must have been his counsel- 
lor. He is too sagacious to take advice of such a counsellor. 
What then is left for inference? That in the opinion of the 
Secretary the power of the executive is such, as it relates to 
the object of his ambition, that it is more than sufficient to 
compensate his loss of popularity ; or that the road to the 
Presidency is not by the voice of the people, but by the power 
of the Executive. Has not every act of the President and the 
Secretary conformed to this theory? I need not particularize, 
for it seems not even contradicted, that offices are bestowed to 
make partisans, and for that purpose only. If such in fact 
be the true state of things, it is manifest that a most fatal 
blow is aimed at liberty, not with a view to destroy liberty, 
but to aequirc poiver: and as this is seen and understood, we 
must not be surprised, that our publick counsels should be deeply 
agitated. The struggle, I do believe, is between liberty and 



30 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

power ; and as I have taken my side fearlessly, I must expect 
the natural consequences, bitter and deep denunciations. Who 
ever opposed power without encountering such or worse con- 
sequences? I am content. I am prepared to fall or rise with 
the cause. It is with me an old cause. In opposing- the 
caucus, the choice of electors by state legislatures, the control 
of juntas, or political leaders, I was actuated by the princi- 
ples that now guide me. It has ever been the object dearest 
to me to procure the ascendency of the popular voice in our 
system; and next to it, to give a wise direction to movements 
of the government so as to fulfil the object of its creation. 
Wherever these great objects lead, there will I ever be found. 
" With sincere regard, 
" I am, 

" J. C. Calhoun." 

" Pendleton, 20th Sept., 1826. 
" To Hon. M. Sterling, 

" My Dear Sir: — I read with much interest your letter 
of the 4th of August, in most of the views of which I 
entirely accord. I have had a severe process to go through ; 
but, I trust, I have passed it like one conscious of having truth 
and duty on his side. It does seem to me, that the great point 
of attack, I mean the discussion on order in the Senate, was 
selected by my opponents merely with a view to temporary 
advantage, without looking to remote consequences. That my 
decision was right, and that the principles on which it rests 
are indispensable to the preservation of the freedom of debate 
cannot be doubted by anyone, who will take the trouble calmly 
to weight the arguments. That such is the impression through 
the whole South, I do not doubt ; and, if it is not that of the 
North now, it must finally be. You know the deep confidence, 
which I have ever reposed in the force of truth, and that I have 
ever moved in the path, which I conceived that it directed. 
I feel no diminution of this confidence notwithstanding the 
success of my opponents in making an impression against me 
in the first instance. Of nothing am I more certain than that 



OLD SOUTH CAROLINA DAYS 31 

ultimately, I will be (for all that has occurred), more deeply 
fixed in the good opinion of the people. To the South, my 
course has been almost unanimously supported. I do not in 
the least doubt, but that the present political state of things 
will terminate in three years. It ought. The blow struck at 
the principles of the government, if not parried, must prove 
fatal. The highest power, and that on which all others are 
dependent must not be disposed of by the coalition, or manage- 
ment of politicians. It must be by the gift of the people. If 
not, our system will prove in time the most corrupt that ever 
existed. The richest body becomes the most putrid in a de- 
cayed state, so the best system, if the vital principle departs, 
becomes the most corrupt. Of this you have had some ex- 
perience in New York; and, if there, where the patronage is 
small and the objects inconsiderable, such be the fruits, what 
think you must it be in the disposition of the millions of the 
Union, with all of its honors? 

" For acting on these views, I have been denounced. Let 
them denounce ! It is no more than what I expected, and only 
proves, how strong the principle of corruption has already 
taken hold. My oppositon to the Congress caucus and the 
coalition rests on the same great principle, and I am prepared 
to bear in so great a cause. 

" We find the climate here under our mountains delightful. 

We are all well ; and Mrs. C and her mother desire their 

best respects to you. Make mine to Mrs. S . How is J. C. 

Sterling? ' "J. C. C. 

" I will rejoice to see P and your brother again in Con- 
gress. If you write to either make my best respects to them." 

" Fort Hill, i6th Oct., 1846. 
" My Dear Andrew : 

" Your letters of the i6th and 24th of last month came 
by the same mail, a week since, and brought the agree- 
able intelligence of the continued and uninterrupted good 
Health of the place, to a period so late, that I hope all 
danger has passed. The severe trial of the year, acknowledged 



32 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

to be one of the most sickly, gives good ground to believe that 
you have had the good fortune of selecting a spot, combining 
the rare advantages of a low latitude, great fertility and good 
health. It is difficult to say how much value it adds to the place. 
The continuance of the health of yourself and family and 
the complete restoration of Patrick's, of which I learned by 
his last letter, relieved me from much anxiety. I am glad to 
hear that your prospect of a cotton crop continues so good, and 
that you have suffered comparatively little by the worm, whose 
ravages I hope have stopped ere this. There are some in- 
dications of them in my cotton, and I understand they have 
done much mischief in the State. If the accounts from Florida 
are to be trusted they have done more damage there than any 
where else. Taking it altogether the prospect is a short crop 
and good prices. 

" Our election is over. Butler is elected by a small majority 
(147) owing to a division of the vote between Norris and 
Powell, the latter of whom could not be induced to withdraw. 
Haygood (Federal) beat Barton, Republican by 14 only for 
the State Senate. It is said the election will be contested, on 
account of bad votes. Your Uncle John, who was also a 
candidate, got less than 200 votes. The Harrison Federal 
party carried in this district all their candidates except one to 
the House of Representatives, Col. Hunter. In Greenville, 
the opposite ticket prevailed throughout by a large majority. 
I have not heard from the other parts of the State yet. There 
is no doubt, however, of almost perfect union in the State. 

" I am waiting according to your advice for frost before I 
set out. As yet we have had none though a great deal of cool 
weather. It is now raining and has been for the last fifteen 
hours with a prospect of continuing as much longer. The 
probability is it will be followed by cold weather and frost. 
If it should, I will lose no time in setting out. I cannot fix 
the day, as that depends on the weather. Should it turn cold 
enough for frost, you may send your carriage to Selma, in 
time for me to get there going by Dahlonega and allowing one 
or two davs on the road. I will take the stage to there and 



OLD SOUTH CAROLINA DAYS 33 

thence by the nearest and quickest stage routes. You need 
not send before frost, as I do not think it would be prudent to 
venture before. John will probably accompany me. 

" As I hope it will be but a short time before we meet, I 
will postpone what I had to say on politics and other subjects 
till then. All join in sending their love to you and Mar- 
garet. I am glad to hear that Dufif thrives so well and is so 
promising, I shall be quite curious to see him. 

" Your affectionate father, 

"John C. Calhoun. 

" A. P. Calhoun, Esq." 

An account of the meeting which was held at Georgetown 
during " Court Week," in the spring of 1848, to elect a dele- 
gate to the Democratic National Convention at Baltimore is 
now in order, and for a proper understanding of this meeting 
a word regarding the judicial organization of South Carolina 
is necessary. The State was divided into judicial districts (in- 
stead of counties) in which courts were held semi-annually. 
Court week, as it was called, came to be a time for the as- 
sembling not only of jurors, lawyers, and litigants, but also of 
the commissioners having charge of the various public de- 
partments (such as roads and charities), and of public men 
generally, for civic and political purposes. In short, court 
week served to bring together, semi-annually, the leading citi- 
zens, many of them country gentlemen, of a large district. 
Although my friends and I had actively agitated, by newspaper 
paragraphs and personal letters, the necessity of electing a 
delegate to the National Convention at this time, we had 
evoked no response beyond a half-hearted admission of the 
propriety of the proceeding, by reason of a widespread fear 
of the attitude of the Charleston and Columbia Junta, which 
four years before had actually prevented elected delegates from 
attending the convention. We had to resort, therefore, to a 
harmless trick to prevent any hostile interruption, and had ac- 
cordingly called a meeting at the court house for two o'clock, 
which was the hour the court adjourned for dinner. At this 



34 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

hour " the conspirators," as we were called, six in number, 
came together : Colonel McKay, president of the bank ; Eleazer 
Waterman, a shipping merchant and proprietor and editor of 
the Winyah Observer, the Union organ; William J. Howard, 
the Clerk of the Court then sitting; General James M. Com- 
mander, the leader of the cavalry forces ; Dr. O. M. Roberts, 
a prominent physician ; and myself. 

When the court adjourned, the judge, lawyers, jurors, and 
litigants, although leaving their seats, remained in the hall, 
which was packed with spectators who had come to amuse 
themselves with the ridiculous failure which had been prog- 
nosticated for the meeting. A few partisan leaders were there, 
ready to antagonize the action proposed when its advocate 
should have delivered his address. Immediately after the ad- 
journment of the court I rose with youthful assurance and, in 
a most patronizing manner, thanked the judge for his courtesy 
in adjourning the court for the accommodation of the meeting 
and for his personal presence thereat, it being highly impor- 
tant for Southern interests that all the good citizens of the 
State should participate in the effort to co-operate with the 
other Southern States in a national convention. I then said, 
" Gentlemen, this meeting has been called specifically and solely 
for the purpose of selecting a delegate to represent this con- 
gressional district in the Democratic Convention to be held in 
Baltimore. The subject has been largely discussed throughout 
the district by our journals, as well as orally, and this large 
gathering shows how thoroughly this Democratic district is in 
accord with its brethren in the other Southern States in their 
desire to co-operate in protecting the interests of the South 
in the Baltimore Convention." I then said in a loud voice, " I 
nominate our distinguished fellow citizen, Dr. O. M. Roberts, 
Chairman of this meeting." Col. McKay promptly seconded 
the nomination, which was unanimously carried by the votes 
of the five friends, given with becoming energy. On taking 
the chair, the doctor modestly tendered his thanks for the 
honor, and then said, " It is next in order to elect a secretary." 
Col. McKay nominated my old friend and schoolmate William 



OLD SOUTH CAROLINA DAYS 35 

J. Howard. The nomination was seconded by Mr. Waterman, 
and Mr. Howard was elected with the same admirable unan- 
imity. I then arose and nominated, with suitable remarks, 
Gen. James M. Commander as the delegate to represent the 
Congressional district in the Baltimore convention. This was 
also seconded and unanimously approved by the same earnest 
supporters of the cause. Just here a great disappointment came 
to our large audience, and especially to a few orators who had 
been waiting for an opportunity to demoralize the meeting as 
soon as the usual speeches were made by its promoters. I 
once more took the iloor and, after commending the officers 
for their services, their presence, and their sympathy, and thank- 
ing the judge again for his courtesy in favoring us with his 
presence, moved that the meeting be adjourned sine die; the 
motion was carried with the former unanimity, and the throng 
dispersed for dinner. We congratulated our delegate on having 
the honor of being the first representative from the State to 
the National Convention. The politicians had been taught a 
valuable lesson. 

I went to Baltimore a day or two before the assembling of 
the convention, and laid before the delegations from the other 
Southern States the importance of the movement for Southern 
co-operation, and suggested that as General Commander 
was the only delegate from his State, it was both proper and 
politic to give him the right to cast the nine votes to which 
the State was entitled. In this I was sustained by most of the 
Northern delegations favoring the South. The reports of the 
contests in the convention created much amusement, and 
when General Commander was called on to vote for a measure, 
or a candidate, he would arise with great dignity and in a 
loud voice declare, " South Carolina casts nine votes for this 
measure or this candidate." It was this which led John Van 
Buren, when his father was defeated for the presidency on 
the Free Soil ticket, to say, "It is humiliating indeed to be 
Hogged by that Carolina cat of nine tails from Georgetown, 
South Carolina, unclding the suffrage of his whole State against 
its aristocracy." 



CHAPTER II 

OLD NEW YORK DAYS 

During my visits to the North I had the pleasure of being 
entertained, on various occasions, by two merchant princes 
and neighbors doing business in New York and residing on 
Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn Heights, — Edward Anthony and 
George Hastings. Mr. Hastings was the intimate friend of 
Dr. Vinton, and the senior warden of his Brooklyn church. 
Mr. Hastings' palatial residence was among the first of the 
modern Gothic structures in the Heights district; visitors were 
constantly calling to examine it, and my room was exhibited 
as their guest chamber. Mr. Anthony (originally from Rhode 
Island and the brother of Senator Anthony) and his lovely 
Philadelphia Quaker wife were social leaders in that part of 
Brooklyn. I remember as one of Mr. Anthony's intimate 
friends, the Rev. Dr. Samuel H. Cox, father of Bishop Cox, 
the learned and genial pastor of the leading Presbyterian 
church in New York, who was obliged to resign his charge 
because of his violent Abolition addresses and sermons. 
Among the many pleasant personages I met at the home of 
Mr. Anthony was Mr. Joseph C. Neal, editor and publisher 
of the celebrated Meal's Gazette, and author of a variety 
of social studies, of which the " Charcoal Sketches " is yet 
esteemed by many for its philosophy and wit. Mr. Neal was 
a delightful companion and a most fascinating correspondent, 
as may be inferred from the fact that his courtship with his 
accomplished wife was entirely by letter. This lady was edu- 
cated at the celebrated Female Seminary in Troy, N. Y., 
and while still at school ventured to send Mr. Neal's paper 
a poetical composition anonymously. This led to a literary 
correspondence ending in a marriage. After Mr. Neal's death, 
Mrs. Neal continued the publication of the Gazette for many 

36 



OLD NEW YORK DAYS 37 

years with great success, and wrote besides many amusing 
works. 

In the autumn of 1842 I witnessed the grand celebration 
in honor of the introduction of Croton water into the city 
of New York, a celebration which New York has probably 
never equaled since. The day was superb. Not only was the 
whole population in the streets, but all the surrounding cities 
seemed to have joined in the festivities. The procession ex- 
tended over five miles. In addition to the various military 
regiments, were some fifty fire companies with red shirts, 
gorgeous engines, and brilliant banners, and mechanical so- 
cieties with their respective implements of industry — the 
printers being engaged in printing a programme of the cele- 
bration on their presses, one of which was the identical hand- 
press used by Benjamin Franklin. The butchers, all mounted 
on fine horses, presented a remarkable aspect. 

In 1899 I witnessed the tearing down of the noble stone 
Reservoir at Fifth Avenue and Fortieth, Forty-first and Forty- 
second Streets, to make room for the proposed Public Library 
edifice, which it is to be hoped will survive more than sixty 
years in this city of change. 

Thus the landmarks of one's life are destroyed. Nothing 
is respected in New York by the onward march of trade, not 
even the churches ; and the elaborate exercises of laying their 
corner stones and the sacred ceremonies of their dedication 
to the worship of Almighty God, should include this proviso: 
" till the property becomes more valuable for trade than for 
Christian worship." 

Many timid citizens had serious misgivings regarding the 
large bonded debt which the Croton system necessitated. 
Could they be here now to see that this municipal property 
produces a good deal over a million of dollars of income to 
the city, besides serving its convenience and security, they 
would quickly recognize the fallacy of their early views. 
The wisdom of public improvements like this and the Central 
Park, which may well challenge the admiration of the world, 
was largely questioned when they were projected, by the over- 



38 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

conservative taxpayers. I must admit that I myself was short- 
sighted enough not to approve of the project for Central 
Park (though I did not actually oppose it), and now I regard 
my residence opposite this park as my most precious pos- 
session. 

In 1846, the year of my marriage, to which reference has 
already been made. Bond Street was almost exclusively a 
social center. It extended from Broadway to the Bowery, 
a single long block in which lived Dr. John W. Francis ; Rev. 
Dr. Spring ; C. M. Thurston, the banker ; General Dix ; Ex-Post- 
master Coddington ; Ex-Collector of the port of New York 
Morgan; the Pell family; the Ward family (including the 
celebrated Julia Ward Howe, daughter of the banker and 
society leader Samuel Ward) ; the Sampson family, among 
the first to have a picture gallery in New York; the brothers 
Parmly; the popular Guilbert Davis, called by his sporting 
friends " Governor of Coney Island " ; and George Griffin, a 
lawyer whose talented daughter married General Veile. I 
have the pleasantest recollection of my relations with the 
statesman and soldier. General John A. Dix, and his accom- 
plished wife, who were the intimate and valued friends and 
neighbors of my wife's family, and among the particular guests 
at my wedding breakfast. 

I passed many delightful hours in General Dix's library 
poring over his architectural and horticultural books and con- 
sulting him with regard to the construction of a cottage villa 
which I chanced to be planning at the same time that he was 
planning a similar summer residence. Gen. Dix, though a 
very busy man, found time for the appreciation of poetry, 
music, and art, and for the pleasures of society. His manners 
toward all classes and ages were of the gentlest ; he made 
even children forget in his company the dignity of his position. 

While he was Minister to the Court of the Emperor Louis 
Napoleon, I returned one cold, rainy day, to my rooms at 
my hotel in Paris, to find him on his knees in front of the 
parlor grate blowing the dull embers of the fire into a blaze. 
My daughter informed me that the General had called shortly 



OLD NEW YORK DAYS 39 

after I left the hotel, and that they had persuaded him to 
remain until my return. The amiable visitor had picked up 
from the table a copy of " Alice in Wonderland " and amused 
them, not only by reading, but by illustrating the subject for 
them. The fire getting low, he begged them not to ring for 
the servant, as he would fix it himself. 

General Dix's talented son (now the Rev. Morgan Dix, 
D. D., Rector of Trinity Church), and my brother-in-law. Dr. 
Henry Thurston (who afterward volunteered as a surgeon in 
the Civil War and died soon after peace was declared, through 
having undermined his constitution in the service), were in- 
timate friends and classmates. Another young man of Bond 
Street intimate with the preceding two was Col. Ward — after- 
ward Gen. Ward — who led the Twelfth Regiment into the 
field in defense of the Union. 

I must not forget to mention in this connection Ward Mc- 
Allister — afterward the greatly beloved leader of the New 
York " four hundred " — a modern Beau Brummell, who has 
left no worthy successor. 

The name of Dr. Francis cannot be passed over lightly in 
any account of the Bond Street of the forties. Indeed I pride 
myself on being able to name him among my especial Bond 
Street friends. The genial weakness of believing himself to 
look like Franklin was often attributed to Dr. Francis ; and, 
indeed, he did resemble that great philosopher not only in 
his outward appearance, but in the character of his intellect. 
He was a valued friend of Washington Irving, Daniel Web- 
ster, Prescott Hall, Philip Hone, Fenimore Cooper, Evert A. 
Duyckinck, James G. King the banker. Chancellor Kent, Bishop 
Wainwright, and General Dix. I had the pleasure of meet- 
ing in Dr. Francis' hospitable parlor and dining room most 
of these celebrated men ; but I was too young at that time 
to contract any degree of intimacy with the majority of them. 
I recall with profit, however, many of their opinions on the 
questions of that period ; for such groups as frequented the 
house of Dr. Francis did not occupy the time with discussions 
of the stock exchange or the probable success of political 



40 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

parties. Indeed, machine politics and party bosses had not 
yet taken the place of the Albany Regency and Tammany 
Hall. 

There was an intimacy between the families of this Bond 
Street group which no longer exists in any group in New 
York. They had settled on property intended to be kept 
free by carefully-drawn titles from all business occupancy. 
The houses were brick and marble, and were of the most ornate 
character. Back of each was a stable fronting on an alleyway 
for the use of the carriages and the servants. A few years 
after my marriage, in the very same parlor of No. 7 Bond 
Street in which I received the wedding guests, I stood to 
be measured for a suit of clothes by a fashionable tailor who 
had acquired the property as a valuable stand for business, 
in derogation of the exclusion of trade in the title. The failure 
of this attempt at exclusiveness shows the futility of trying 
to tie up property for any purpose whatsoever in a mercantile 
city like New York, where the churches dedicated to Almighty 
God are but leaseholds pending a rise in the market value 
of lots for business. 

New York society, Bond Street apart, in the early forties 
was made up mainly of famihes of professional men and 
merchants of Dutch and English ancestry. 

The leading citizens of this period — as I recall them — 
were Charles A. Davis, D. S. Kennedy, S. P. Gerard, Moses 
H. Grinnel, S. B. Ruggles. R. H. Blatchford, John Ward, 
Samuel Ward, Simon Draper, Charles H. Russell, Ogden 
Hoffman, James W. Gerard, Dr. J. W. Francis, Edward 
Curtis, General John A. Dix, Robert B. Minturn, Philip Hone, 
Prosper M. Whitmore, Philip Van Rensselaer, Daniel Lord, 
Jr., James T. Brady, John Van Buren, Charles O'Conor, 
Francis B. Cutting. John Duer, Chancellor Kent, George 
Griffin, Charles Clinton, Thomas Tillotson, William B. Astor, 
Albert Gallatin, John Jay, W. H. Aspinwall, Rev. Dr. Wain- 
wright, George Griswold, James Brown, George Wood, Abra- 
ham Ogden, Jonathan Goodhue, David B. Ogden, Frederick 
de Peyster, Robert Ray, Frederick Prime, and James G. King. 



OLD NEW YORK DAYS 41 

It was their custom to dine togetlier rather infonnally in 
little congenial parties, and they talked not of stocks and the 
latest fads of the fashionables, but of science, literature, the 
drama, and public affairs. The vulgar term " boss " did not 
then exist, nor did any party recognizing ring domination. 
Being an earnest Democrat, I found myself much alone, for 
the Whigs regarded themselves as the respectable part of 
these gatherings, and a Tammany Democrat had to give other 
vouchers than his party affiliations for his respectability. I 
recall an illustration of this attitude given at one of these 
dinners by a distinguished Democrat. He was riding in a 
stage coach with Henry Clay, he said, when a discussion arose 
as to the relative respectability of the political parties of the 
day. Upon looking out of the window, Mr. Clay espied a 
drunken man, whom he fancied to be a frail Democrat strag- 
gling along the road. He stopped the stage and said, " My 
good fellow, we have a bet here as to your politics." The 
man, true to the reputation of the Whig party for moral ele- 
vation, stutteringly replied, " I am sorry, gentlemen, to admit, 
while in this state, that I am a Whig." 

The prominent capitalists of this period were content with 
their modest fortunes, and would have scorned to increase 
them by the corrupt practices of the adventurers of to-day 
who, by legislative frauds, seize the land and capital of the 
people. The Goulds and the Vanderbilts had not yet reaped 
the harvests of their successful but scantly honest specula- 
tions. Indeed, Cornelius Vanderbilt was still the captain of 
a steamboat running to Newport and elsewhere. The Astors 
and the Goelets were already the millionaires of New York, 
having inherited fortunes derived from the wonderful advance 
in land values ; but even the Astor estate could not have com- 
pared in magnitude with those of the railway and mining mil- 
lionaires of the present. August Belmont was just emerging 
from the agency of a French banking house and entering so- 
ciety with the glamorous reputation of having been wounded 
in a duel with a young Southerner. 

Robert L. Stewart was laving the foundation of his wealth 



42 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

by manufacturing and selling pure candy to the rising genera- 
tion. Peter Cooper, now the most loved and cherished of 
all these men of affairs, was just beginning, by his glue factory, 
his iron mines, and his foundry, to amass that fortune by 
means of which thousands of young men and women have 
been prepared for useful careers. A. T. Stewart had just 
finished his palatial marble dry goods store at the corner of 
Chambers Street and Broadway and was rapidly acquiring 
his title of " the merchant prince " by a broad and well-ma- 
tured business policy. Mr. Stewart originally lived in De Pau 
Row, as it was called, in Bleecker Street. Later he purchased 
the northern Fifth Avenue corner of East Thirty-fourth Street. 
The corresponding corner of West Thirty-fourth Street across 
the Avenue was occupied by a rather palatial dwelling erected 
by a retired dealer in notions. Shortly after this mansion was 
finished, I was walking down town with a friend, who re- 
marked that he would like to see the interior. " We will go 
right in," I said ; " a gentleman who builds so fine a house 
will surely be flattered by a request to visit it." The bell 
brought to the door the owner, who promptly expressed his 
willingness to gratify our curiosity, and when we entered the 
vaulted music-room he gave us a specimen of its acoustic prop- 
erties by singing in a very loud, cathedral voice a stanza of the 
Doxolog\' — a selection which he explained to us was quite 
in character, since his wife was the daughter of a Bishop. 
Mr. Stewart subsequently purchased this property with the 
intention of making additions and improvements ; but on find- 
ing, after he had spent considerable money, that the walls 
were settling because the foundation was defective, he 
determined to buy more land and erect thereon a veritable 
palace. 

About this time he visited the ornate marble store which 
our mutual friend, Wilson G. Hunt, had just completed down 
town, and was so pleased with it that he requested Mr. Hunt 
to send him his architect, who was then engaged in building 
the expensive marble court house which cost the city so dear 
by reason of the machinations of the Tweed Ring. The archi- 



OLD NEW YORK DAYS 43 

tect at Mr. Stewart's request drew up a plan for a dwelling 
and presented it. " Is that the best you can do for a fine 
mansion ? " asked Mr. Stewart. 

" Oh, not at all. I could design a palace if you were willing 
to build it." 

" Very well, let me see your taste." 

In a few days the architect presented another plan. " Now 
that is something like. What will it cost?" 

" I can hardly tell that," said the architect, " without care- 
fully estimating." 

" See what you can do for a million." 

" Oh! that would be ample," replied the delighted architect, 
and the million-dollar house was built. 

My acquaintance with Mr. Stewart originated in business 
dealings with him before I removed from South Carolina. 

In his business Mr. Stewart had a marvelous memory for 
details. I was one day leaving his store with my wife when 
he accosted her, saying, " I hope, Mrs. Lathers, you have 
found what you came for." " No, Mr. Stewart," she replied ; 
" I wanted a very plain Brussels carpet for a small library, 
light color with a small blue figure, but while you have a great 
variety, you have nothing of that description." He replied, 
" I am quite sure we have one of that exact description," and 
turning to a clerk he said, " Go to the third floor and get 
out from the last invoice of carpets No. 2206. I think the 
style and pattern will just meet the description of this lady." 
And it did exactly, to our unbounded surprise. 

In going from my country place to business by the New 
Haven Railroad, I often walked from the Grand Central Depot 
as far as Mr. Stewart's immense dry goods palace opposite 
Grace Church in Broadway. I would wait for him there while 
he gave his morning directions to his clerks, after which I 
would ride down to his Chambers Street store with him, whence 
his driver would take me to my William Street office. On 
one of these occasions, amazed by the ease and expedition with 
which he dispatched his varied duties, I remarked, as we 
entered the carriage, " Mr. Stewart, it must sometimes make 



44 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

you feel sad to reflect that this stupendous and unique busi- 
ness structure must be lost to the pubHc when you pass away." 
" Oh, no," he rephed, " not at all ; the business will be con- 
tinued in accordance with my plans." I said, " Mr. Stewart, 
I do not want to be guilty of offering you the commonplace 
compliment of intimating that you are the only man possessed 
of so much mercantile ability. I only meant that it would be 
difficult, if not impossible, to find another man with the ca- 
pacity, taste, and capital necessary for a business the magni- 
tude and success of which are unequaled in any country." 
'■ Yes," he replied, " that may be so, but you forget that the 
machine is made, and I have the engineer ready to take my 
place." " I am aware," I replied, " that you refer to Judge 
Hilton. He is a clever lawyer, but trade demands other quali- 
fications besides legal ability, and first among these is experi- 
ence." " Well," replied Mr. Stewart, " that is just what, as 
an apt scholar. Judge Hilton is acquiring, and the art of 
trading is simple. Perhaps you would like to know how I 
laid the foundation of my success." I replied that I would. 
" Then I will tell you," said he. " It was by doing exactly 
the opposite of what you have probably done ; for instance, 
when you have a consignment of cotton, rice, or sugar, to 
sell, how do you manage?" "Why, of course," I replied, 
" I ask the highest price the market will bear." " That is not 
my habit," said ]\Ir. Stewart. " I study to put my goods on 
the market at the lowest price I can afford and secure a rea- 
sonable profit. In this way I limit competition and increase 
my sales ; and, although I realize only a small profit on each 
sale, the enlarged area of business thus secured makes possible 
a great accumulation of capital and assures the future." 

Mr. Stewart's uncle had educated him for the church, but 
on finishing his studies he requested his uncle — so he had told 
me — to aid him with a little capital in order that he might buy 
Irish linens, laces, insertions, and other dress trimmings to 
be sold in America. His success was immediate. He opened 
a small store in Greenwich Street, displaying his Irish fabrics, 
along with some domestic calicoes, which he purchased on the 



OLD NEW YORK DAYS 45 

eastern side of the city and carried to his store on his own 
shoulders ; for goods at that time were not delivered by the 
seller, and he wished to save cartage. After a year of good 
business his landlord advanced his rent. He threatened to 
surrender the premises, but, deciding that the expense of mov- 
ing and the loss of trade involved would be greater than the 
increase in rent, he remained. The landlord advanced his 
rent again at the end of another year, and this time, feeling 
that he was being imposed on, he moved to Broadway, nearly 
opposite the marble building on the comer of Chambers Street, 
where he realized a large part of his enormous fortune. 

While he was still in his little Greenwich Street shop he 
heard his salesman one day inform an old lady that the calico 
there before them cost twenty-five cents a yard, but that he 
would sell it to her at twenty cents. Pleased with the reduc- 
tion, the old lady purchased the dress pattern and retired, 
whereupon Mr. Stewart said to the salesman, " Jeemes, is it 
necessary to lie to do our business?" "Oh," said the sales- 
man, " that is only the usage in dealing with the accomplished 
shoppers who are in the habit of beating down." " Oh, yes, 
I know it," said Mr. Stewart, " but you must never practice 
that usage in my store again." 

How ephemeral is all this mercantile glory ! Mr. Stewart 
left a magnificent property, and yet, in twenty-five years after 
his death, both his fame and his fortune had passed away. 
His very grave was rifled, and his body has never been re- 
covered. 

In August, 1896, the public was startled by the announce- 
ment in the morning papers that Hilton, Hughes & Co., the 
successors of A. T. Stewart & Co., had made an assignment 
and that the store was accordingly closed. My fears as ex- 
pressed to Mr. Stewart many years before as to the inability 
of a lawyer to fill the place of a skillful, experienced, and suc- 
cessful merchant, were thus verified. Ah, ' tis all but a dream 
at the best! Even the palatial marble residence Mr. Stewart 
built for himself on Fifth Avenue seems predestined to mis- 
fortune. It has ceased to be known by his name, and, as 



46 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

the Manhattan Club, is for some reason unsuccessful and 
will probably be abandoned. 

I once suggested to Mr. Stewart, half in jest and half in 
earnest, that his mansion would furnish a lasting monument 
to his memory if he would will it to the city as a mayoralty 
mansion. But he replied that he did not slave in business to 
decorate the municipality. 

I desire here to call attention to the Clarendon Hotel, on 
Fourth Avenue, corner of Eighteenth Street, recently closed. 
It was built in 1848 by Mr. Ruggles, a prominent and enter- 
prising citizen. Its early career did not presage its later popu- 
larity. It was considered too far up town for the convenience 
of business men, inasmuch as there was no city railway and 
only one omnibus line, owned by Brower, running from a point 
in Broadway opposite Bond Street to the Astor House. The 
fare was ten cents. There were no straps for passengers with- 
out seats, and no gentleman was expected to enter when the 
seats were all occupied. 

Under its first lessee, Mr. Putnam, the Clarendon was by 
no means a first-class hostelry, though it was perfectly re- 
spectable. The table waiters were raw country girls, and the 
cuisine left much to be desired. But under the management 
of Mr. Kerner (a German ex-steward of the Union Club), 
the successor of Mr. Putnam, it speedily became one of the 
finest hotels in the country. The table service was exceedingly 
well organized. The waiters marched from the pantry in 
military order to place the food on the table and, after re- 
moving the covers of the dishes, marched in the same manner 
to deposit them on the side tables before waiting on the guests. 
The dinner was served punctually at a fixed hour, and those 
not present at any course lost it — for the courses were brought 
on with as much regularity as at a private dinner. The guests 
found their own wines, however, and courteously exchanged 
with one another. Chambermaids and hallboys were rewarded 
for their industry and fidelity by the boarders, but tips to 
table waiters were unknown. There was no bar or cigar- 
stand for loungers, and no stranger was expected to visit the 



OLD NEW YORK DAYS 47 

hotel without sending his card, as a caller, to some guest. A 
couple of neatly furnished rooms (minus rocking chairs, then 
considered a rural equipment), adjoining the hall were de- 
voted to smoking, and in one of these was a kind of counter 
with a marble top on which stood a few tumblers and a 
receptacle for ice water. Under this counter was a locked 
closet containing wines, liquors, and cigars, to be produced by 
a waiter stationed there only when a boarder requested them ; 
for visitors were regarded as the guests of their friends, and 
were not expected to call for or pay for anything in the way 
of entertainment. After dinner, and after the theater, these 
smoking rooms were always filled. Among the prominent per- 
sons to be found smoking and taking a friendly glass together 
there were Wilson G. Hunt, Ward McAllister, General Han- 
cock, Governor Hoffman, Charles Clinton, George B. Doer, 
Dr. Ellridge, Prof. E. J. Phelps, Ex-President Pierce, Ex- 
Governor Marshall, Mr. Adee, Mr. David Jones, Mr. Rhine- 
lander, and, from time to time, such diplomats as Lord 
Ellsmere, Lord Napier, Sir Edward Thornton, the Russian 
Minister Bodeska, and Baron Steckel. The register of the 
hotel shows that seven diplomats had rooms there the same 
night. The Grand Duke Alexis of Russia visited this head- 
quarters of international goodfellowship for the relaxation of 
a cigar and a glass of the best wine in the city after the tire- 
some formalities of public receptions. This fact made the 
Clarendon popular with travelers from all over Europe, and 
especially from England. 

In the ladies' drawing room such theatrical and operatic 
stars as Modjeska, Clara Louise Kellogg, Patti, Gerster, Ris- 
tori, and Albani gave complimentary performances, the tickets 
to which were highly valued as keepsakes. The Clarendon 
became the fashionable and exclusive place for wedding break- 
fasts. Brown, the sexton of Grace Church, could be seen 
there almost any night studying the register for the rich and 
eligible young dancing men required by the parvenu balls. 
It was there that Ward McAllister laid the foundations for 
the oraranization of his " four hundred." 



48 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

The rooms of Mr. Wilson G. Hunt were a center of con- 
servative finance by reason of the widespread and well-founded 
confidence in his integrity and judgment and in his extensive 
means of acquiring both political and financial information. He 
was a director of many of the richest and most influential cor- 
porations in the city; the trusted adviser of such capitalists 
as the Astors, Peter Cooper, Vanderbilt, A. A. Low, Moses 
Taylor, and A. T. Stewart. He was a partisan but conserv- 
ative Democrat, and a liberal contributor to the legitimate ex- 
penses of the Democratic party. His advice was respected by 
both the Democratic factions until the advent of bossism. A 
daily list of the callers at his rooms would have included 
nearly every name prominent in the finance, philanthropy, and 
religion of the city. He was not often imposed upon, yet he 
could not always escape, for he was not sufficiently suspicious. 
In those convivial evenings in the smoking rooms, one of the 
guests became very popular and " promoted " a fraud so in- 
geniously that he lured several of the financial experts, among 
them Mr. Hunt, to take an interest in a worthless corpora- 
tion. Each of the persons approached by this wolf in sheep's 
clothing was given to understand that he was receiving a 
special favor, and yet when he quit the hotel nearly everyone 
foimd himself victimized. Mr. Hunt, and indeed most of the 
old guests, ever after refused to visit the smoking rooms. In 
his private parlor, where he received all his callers subsequent 
to this experience, I met nearly every diplomat and states- 
man of distinction in the country, and nearly every solid man 
of New York during the frequent calls I made on him up 
to a few days before his death. He was a keen observer, but 
never censorious. He was most liberal to others and especially 
to unfortunate friends, while almost parsimonious in his own 
expenditures. An old merchant called upon him, when I 
chanced to be present, with a subscription book for some 
charity with which he did not sympathize. Mr. Hunt said, 
" Now be candid with me, what interest have you in collecting 
this money?" "Well, my old friend, to tell the truth, my 
necessities induced me to undertake it for the commission." 




Wilson G. Hunt 
From a print made about 1855 



OLD NEW YORK DAYS 49 

Mr. Hunt then said, " What is your commission ? " He re- 
plied, " Ten per cent." Mr. Hunt said, " And how much 
am I assessed for by these books ? " The reply was, " You 
appear to have given one hundred dollars to this charity." 
" Well," said Mr. Hunt, " here is ten dollars, your commission, 
which is all the interest I have in that charity." He then turned 
to me and said, " This object lesson may be useful to you," 
and it has been. 

One afternoon as several luxurious carriages stootl before 
the door of the hotel to take the well-dressed ladies and their 
gentlemen escorts to the Central Park drive, he remarked to 
me, " Did it ever occur to you that you and I, who live so 
modestly, are about the only guests in this hotel who have a 
clear income to return to the United States for Income Tax 
assessment ? " On making my own return for the year, I was 
informed that Mr. Hunt was right by the assessor, who seemed 
to be puzzled to understand how the display which the guests 
of our hotel made could be supported without incomes. 

One evening in the smoking room many cases of disappoint- 
ment over the disposition of the political spoils by the recently 
elected Whigs were cited. Genial Joe Hoxie, who had com- 
posed and sung with great effect during the campaign the 
song "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too," but who had been left 
out in the cold by the victors, was present as the guest of his 
friend, Mr. Hunt. He took the matter philosophically and 
good-naturedly, as it was his wont to take everything. 
" Blessed are those who don't expect anything," he said, " for 
they shall not be disappointed." 

Mr. Kerner, our host, always ready to illustrate aptly any 
subject under discussion, informed us that in early life he had 
suffered disappointment in the very heyday of triumph, and 
he suggested that certain of his Whig friends might have been 
similarly disappointed even if they had been given official 
positions. '' I had enlisted in one of Napoleon's army corps," 
he said, " and on the termination of my first dress parade the 
Colonel called for twelve brave volunteers for duty. I stepped 
Sriskly to the front, with eleven others, proud of having an 



50 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

opportunity to distinguish myself. The Colonel supplied us 
with a portion of the regiment's band, and then turned us 
over to a corporal, who marched us to the accompaniment of 
an inspiriting military tune to a distant part of our camping 
ground and into a kind of barn, where we were ordered to 
stack arms and attack with knives a large pile of potatoes 
that were waiting to be pared for the encampment's dinner. 
The paring accomplished, we marched back, very much crest- 
fallen, to the great amusement of the veterans." 

Our host covered his disgrace by ordering a bottle of his 
best German wine, in which we all drank his health and that 
of the great leader of whom he loved to talk, Napoleon Bona- 
parte. 

Ex-Governor Marcy then said : " On taking the oath of 
office for my first Gubernatorial term, I went into the State 
Department with some political friends to overhaul my of- 
ficial mail. As I opened each letter I found it was an earnest 
application for an office or a contract. My friends remarked 
that my early official correspondence was very large. I an- 
swered, ' Yes, they all seem to feel that " to the victors belong 
the spoils." ' This was immediately used by the press as an 
expression of my own opinion, and to this day it is an un- 
settled question whether my administration in New York or 
that of General Jackson in Washington originated the now 
popular slogan." 

One of our guests related that while he was en route from 
Charleston to New York his train was boarded at Baltimore 
by a number of the Democratic delegates to the Convention 
held in that city, which had just nominated Mr. Pierce for 
the Presidency, an outcome which was a surprise to many, 
for Mr. Pierce was not at that time as favorably known as 
his administration subsequently made him. Several voices 
said, "Who is Pierce?" A very jovial Western member of 
Congress replied, " I have never served in Congress with him, 
but I know him to be a damned good fellow. A couple of 
years ago I was a guest with him at a dinner party in George- 
town, D. C, from which four of us determined to walk back 



OLD NEW YORK DAYS 51 

to Washington, in order to enjoy the bright moonHght as well 
as to take the air after indulging in the fine wines of our 
host. As we were crossing the Washington Bridge, my com- 
panion and I, who were in the lead, missed Mr. Pierce and 
his companion. We retraced our steps about two hundred 
feet and found that an accident had happened. Mr. Pierce's 
companion had fallen into a hole in the rotten planking cov- 
ering the bridge, but had been saved by his arms from falling 
into the river. Mr. Pierce was tugging away trying to lift 
the unfortunate up, but finding himself unequal to the task 
said in a halting, sympathetic voice, ' Old fellow, I can't get 
you out of this hole, but I will do the next best thing, I will 
get in with you." Ex-President Pierce, who was present, re- 
marked, " a delightful compliment, but the incident is much 
exaggerated." 

During the winter of 1855-56 Thackeray, who had come to 
New York to deliver his lectures on the Four Georges, was 
a guest at the Clarendon, and as he occupied a suite adjoining 
that of my family and was fond of children, he frequently 
came into the parlor to chat and relax with my young people, 
who took to his kindly face and interesting little stories wonder- 
fully. I met Thackeray at the Century Club also, where we 
were both occasional guests, but more frequently and more 
informally at the Saturday night supper parties in the base- 
ment of the residence of that prince of good fellows. Evert 
A. Duyckinck. Here, in the company of such kindred spirits 
as Dr. J. W. Francis, Rev. Dr. Hawks, the poet Fitz Greene 
Halleck, the comedian Hackett, the novelist Herman Melville, 
and the poet and traveler Bayard Taylor, the genial nature 
of Thackeray fairly radiated cheer. One night when the con- 
versation had become a bit free, one of the guests (Judge 
O'Gorman, I think, with whom I was very intimate) said, 
" Thackeray, where did you get your model for Mrs. Major 
O'Dowd ? Was she an English woman ? " He replied, " No, 
by God, she was Irish — my mother-in-law — didn't I give her 
hell! But she was a gloriously good woman after all." 
Thackeray was himself a glorious companion on these glorious 



52 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

occasions in that glorious old basement of my glorious old 
friend, Evert A. Duyckinck. 

The following account of Mr. Duyckinck which appeared 
in one of the New York papers a day or two after his death 
in 1878 gives a better idea of the man and his career than any- 
thing I could write: 

" Evert A. Duyckinck, whose funeral occurs to-morrow 
from the historic church of St. Mark's-in-the-fields — as its 
parish name still remains — was thirty years ago one of the 
most popular and esteemed critics of the day. Lowell, in his 
' Fable for Critics,' published in 1848, thus referred to him : 

" Good-day, Mr. Duyckinck, I am happy to meet 
With a scholar so ripe and a critic so neat, 
Who through Grub Street the soul of a gentleman carries 
What news from the suburb of London and Paris? 

" Mr. Duyckinck was descended from one of the oldest 
Knickerbocker families. His father, Evert Duyckinck, was one 
of New York's pioneer publishers and printers. James Harper 
was one of his journeymen. The name of Duyckinck, or Long 
& Duycknick, upon any book was (about 1814-1825) a guar- 
antee of its excellence and typographical accuracy. Evert 
Duyckinck was born in 1816, was graduated at Columbia Col- 
lege in 1835 and was admitted to the bar, but almost imme- 
diately went into literature. His brother George Long (who 
died in 1862), was also bred to the law, and he also embraced 
the profession of letters. Their father on his decease left 
them a fair income. Evert added to it by reviews, newspaper 
leaders, and critiques. Nearly all of his labors are, therefore, 
ephemeral. But he was known throughout the United States 
to publishers, authors, and editors as a critic without malice or 
bias, impartial, just, discriminating, and with a style much like 
that of Charles Lamb, whom, indeed, he much resembled in his 
constitutional shyness, unctuotis and quiet wit, sententious and 
clever conversation, and slight hesitation in speech. He was 
in every respect a thoroughly genial man, and it is said that 
no one ever saw him affected by ill temper. He had one of the 




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OLD NEW YORK DAYS 53 

choicest libraries in the State, and he may be said to have 
Hved in it. He resided during forty years at No. 30 CHnton 
Place, which of late had queer surroundings for a man of 
quiet and retiring habits. But he so disliked changes ! At 
this residence in years gone by met a literary coterie known as 
the ' Colonel's Club,' of which William Allen Butler was chair- 
man, and Cornelius Mathews, Henry T. Tuckerman, Edward 
J. Gould, Bailey Myers, Lowell, Fletcher Harper, and others 
were leading members. Its papers were published in the Liter- 
ary World — a publication like the London Athenaciun — which 
belonged to and was edited by the Duyckincks from 1846 to 
1853. In these papers first appeared several of William Allen 
Butler's early poems, and notably the ' Sexton and Ther- 
mometer.' 

" Mr. Duyckinck's house, like that of Rogers the banker-poet, 
in St. James Square, London, was always the resort of the most 
eminent literary men of the country. All loved him, and he 
loved all nice men of letters who were not uproarious Bohe- 
mians. His best work is the ' Cyclopaedia of American Litera- 
ture,' in two volumes, published by the father of the present 
Mr. Scribner, which is a perfect history of American litera- 
ture down to i860. Mr. Duyckinck was a thorough aestheti- 
cian and should have passed his days in London. He was a 
gentleman of singularly sweet disposition, and with a soul as 
little soiled by the world as can be possible to humanity. Dur- 
ing many years he was a vestryman of St. Thomas', but lat- 
terly of St. Mark's. He died after a brief illness, aged sixty- 
two." 

During most of the years that I passed my winters at the 
Clarendon Hotel, I passed my summers at New Rochelle, 
where in 1848 I had bought a country seat called Winyah 
Park, about which I wrote at that time to a friend in the 
South : " I have purchased a country residence in New Rochelle, 
a very handsome farm about seventeen miles from New York 
City, and as my house is only a few rods from the railway 
I can reach New York in fortv-five minutes. I came into town 



54 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

to-day with my own carriage in two and a quarter hours. 
Eight miles of the road is the Third Avenue of New York City, 
graded and lit by lamps, so that one fancies himself in the City 
all the time. I should like to have a visit from you to enjoy 
my fruit. I have over 200 peach trees, 150 apple do. and 
cherries, etc., in abundance, with a beautiful lawn of six 
acres in front of my house. All my fields, eighty acres, have 
stone walls. The dwelling is a new, double, two-story house 
having sliding doors, portico, etc. I am busy getting the crops 
etc., into my barn." 

After a few years I replaced the plain frame buildings, which 
were utterly without architectural pretensions, by a Tuscan 
villa. This villa was erected under the supervision of Alex- 
ander J. Davis, a leading architect of his time. Mr. Davis 
gave me lessons in drawing and architecture, and was for 
many years one of my most intimate friends. I append here- 
with a letter from Mr. Davis — written many years after the 
construction of the Winyah Park house — because it gives an 
admirable idea of the whimsical side of his character: 

" N. Y., Feb. 19, 1883. 

„_ , "203 W. nth St. 

Friend Lathers: 

" I quite miss you of late as a critic upon architecture, for 
your long study and experience in building on your property 
must enable you to correct abuses, and judge of ' forms, modes 
and shows ' which now force themselves upon the attention 
of all who perambulate our streets, or explore our suburbs 
or pass by The Union Club House. A grinding economy no 
longer ' represses our noble rage, and freezes the genial cur- 
rent of our souls,' as Goldsmith says. You yourself must feel 
the blighting influence of inadequate appropriation, superin- 
duced b)' restricted means, or a too sordid economy, such as 
we both have had ' overcome us like a summer cloud, without 
our special wonder,' for in our first efforts to obtain superior 
taste combined with fitness, use and beauty, our ' vaulting am- 
bition did o'erleap itself, and we fell on the other,' as the im- 
mortal Billy has expressed it. I allude to our great effort in 







o 






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OS 

o 

5 



!! 



OLD NEW YORK DAYS 55 

the original Italian villa of the hill site, N. Rochelle. Here we 
should have expanded our philacteries, and made the octagon 
greater, the tower wider and higher: the hall and dining room 
more capacious and thus saved the cost of the second establish- 
ment in the wilderness of Winyah. ' Eh ! what will you lay 
it's a lie ? ' as Mathews used to say. Be this as it may I have 
myself suffered from like causes, and upon my mountain top 
built a retreat with the broken fragments of Waddell, and my 
own poetical aspirations, and have since reared it into a golden 
palace of Nero, at twice the cost of a better, had it been begun 
aright, with no iron fetter in place of a golden one. 

" When you come to town bring with you the ' Winyah 
Album,' that I may rez'ise the contents, as I have revised my 
own, since I have retired from the active exercise of my pro- 
fession and found time to restudy my thousand plans, and de- 
voit myself to the self-fancied correction of abuses, both in 
church and state, with an unsparing pen and pencil, without 
regard to anybody's feelings, selfish interests and aggrandise- 
ments. But I shall not extend my letter of idle words, but ad- 
here to lines, as my wont has been, and therefore come back 
to ' Winyah Italia,' to which I have added a picture gallery, 
conservatory, and domestic offices. I have opened windows 
in the top of octagon, extended the terrace, added a porte 
cochere, and grown trees and shrubs to south front. I have 
also reformed the old time studies for Huguenot Park, 
the Davenport structures, the Lawton ' Over Cliff ' with a 
new library — the Iselin mansion, and further on the ' Parke 
Whitby.' 

" I have greatly extended my library since I saw you, add- 
ing thereto such works as Duyckinck's ' Cyclopedia,' Alli- 
bone and other literary, philological, critical, historical, and 
illustrative works, such as you have doubtless added to your 
comprehensive collection for the higher accomplishment of 
the dear girls, to whom, as the ghost of Hamlet says, say 
you from me to them ' Remember me ! ' 

" Take time to make me a long visit before my library takes 
wing for the mountain. . . . 



56 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

" You must all become life members of the Historical, 
Geographical, Archaeological, Ethical, Bibliographical, Ar- 
tistical, Oil and Water Color and though last, not least, the 
' Institute of Christian Philosophy,' 4 Winthrop Place. Dr. 
Deems, Pres. and all Bishops Vice Pres. 

" I remain same as ever, 

"A. J. Davis. 
" After an attentive study of Lord Karnes' 4th vol. on man, 
write me of how you get on with Politics and Ben Butler." 

I spent much time with Mr. Davis while under his tuition 
and met frequently in his library Washington Irving, Feni- 
more Cooper, Edwin Forrest, Evert Duyckinck, Downing (the 
landscape gardener), and Samuel F. B. Morse. Apropos of 
the last-named. I recall a pleasant incident. 

I had just finished in Mr. Davis' studio a linear perspective 
study — a mere mathematical problem comprising a church be- 
tween two castellated villas — and was amusing myself by plac- 
ing a tree and some shrubs in the composition and coloring 
it as a picture, when Prof. Morse, who was still practicing his 
original profession of painting, came in. I held up my colored 
study with the remark "Don't you think this is well done? " 
" Yes, pretty fair," was the reply. " But," I said somewhat 
crestfallen, " why not zvell done? " " Because it is very de- 
fective in its aerial perspective," and he forthwith explained 
that there are laws of color as well as of lines. He then took 
up my brush, and dipping it into the color cup demonstrated 
by retouching the trees and the various parts of the edifices, 
the truth of what he had just said. " And now, my young 
friend," he resumed, " I would not have you mortified by my 
criticism without telling you of my own mortification over 
the valuable criticism of my first academical picture by Sir 
Benjamin West, then President of the London Royal Academy. 
When I presented to him the picture by which I hoped to gain 
admission to the Academy, he put on his glasses, and after 
looking at it some time in silence, handed it back to me with 
the remark, ' Very well done, young man, but take it to your 



OLD NEW YORK DAYS 57 

studio and finish it.' I ventured to reply that I did not know 
of any improvement that could be made. He looked at me 
kindly for a moment and said, ' Oh, you are too intelligent 
not to see defects when they are pointed out to you. How far 
from the eye do you wish that rock to be placed in your com- 
position?' I replied, 'About four hundred feet.' 'Then 
don't you perceive that at that distance the crevices and mosses 
could not be so plain nor the shades of color so decided? On 
the other hand, the details of the foreground are too faint.' 
I took the study away and made the corrections just as Sir 
Benjamin had suggested. I again presented my study. Again 
he mounted his spectacles on his nose and after carefully scan- 
ning my work remarked, ' You are on the right road to suc- 
cess. Take the picture away and finish it — as I believe you 
will.' 

" This lesson," said my kindly mentor, " will be of value to 
you. Art has its stumbling blocks, but study and patience have 
their rewards." 

I framed the picture which Prof. Morse retouched for me and 
have always kept it as a souvenir of him. 

In 1865, I may remark here in passing, I built yet a third 
and larger house at Winyah Park just back of the second in 
which I have since had the pleasure of entertaining many 
noted people, among them Gen. Robert Anderson, Judge Pier- 
pont. Major Baldwin, Judge Clark, William Pickersgill, John 
Gardner, Charles O'Conor, Manton Marble, David M. Stone, 
Rev. Dr. Theodore Cuyler, A. A. Low, William H. Aspinwall, 
Clarkson N. Potter, Andrew H. Green, John Russell Young, 
Gen. Van Vliet, Major Smith Ely, Charles A. Dana, Moses 
Grinnel, W. M. Evarts, Bishops Horatio Potter and Henry 
C. Potter, and Admiral Worthing of the British Navy. 

One of the most memorable events I have witnessed in New 
York was the visit of Jenny Lind in 1850, for which we were 
indebted to the enterprise of our great showman, P. T. Barnum. 
Mr. Barnum had already exhibited with great success to the 
aristocracy of Europe the aged nurse of General Washington, 
and the phenomenal dwarf. General Tom Thumb ; but his 



58 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

acute perception of the public taste was never more fully vin- 
dicated than when he brought the Swedish Nightingale to 
America. Mr. Barnum subsidized the press heavily, as was 
his custom. The slightest details of the diva's professional 
and private life were paraded before the public. 

Our poets composed prize poems and even our clergymen 
wrote flattering letters. But Jenny Lind needed none of this 
artificial booming. The musical world recognized her genius, 
and the great heart of the people was in sympathy with her 
sweetness, modesty, and high moral character, to which even 
so rigid but judicious a critic as Queen Victoria had paid 
tribute. 

In welcome contrast with the many fulsome poems which 
Barnum paid for, was one which cost him nothing, by William 
Allen Butler, who became well known later as the author of 
" Nothing to Wear." Barnum is addressing Jenny Lind : 



" So, Jenny, come along, — you're just the card for me, — 
And quit these kings and queens for the country of the free. 
Folks'll welcome you with speeches and serenades and rockets. 
And you shall touch their hearts and I shall tap their pockets. 
And if between us both the public isn't skinned. 
Why, my name isn't Barnum nor your name Jenny Lind." 



I attended the famous first concert at Castle Garden. The 
regular price for tickets was five dollars, but a sale by auction 
was resorted to, by which from fifteen to fifty dollars per seat 
was realized. Some $30,000 resulted from the first concert, and 
$700,000 from the whole engagement, of which Barnum's 
share amounted to $500,000 and Jenny Lind's to $200,000. At 
the auction sale, one Genin, a Broadway hatter, paid $225 
for first choice, an extravagance prompted by a craving for 
notoriety, to all appearances. And yet, thanks to this extrava- 
gance, Genin became widely known as the Jenny Lind hatter, 
and is said to have acquired a fortune speedily. Such is skill 
in making investments. 

On the arrival of Jenny Lind in New York she engaged the 



OLD NEW YORK DAYS 59 

celebrated flutist, Kyle, to accompany her during her tour, and 
requested him to put several flutes to the test of a comparison 
with her voice. I, at that time, was a pupil of Kyle, and a 
flute had just been finished for me under Kyle's supervision 
which was remarkable for its purity of tone, especially in the 
higher register of notes. Kyle craved permission, which I 
readily granted, to include my flute among those he was to test. 
It turned out to be particularly in harmony with Jenny Lind's 
sweet voice. She selected it from among eight or ten for her 
concerts, and Kyle accompanied her with it as long as she re- 
mained in America. I quote herewith a description of Jenny 
Lind's flute song from the pen of A. Oakey Hall: 

" And now is coming the crucial test of the fluidity 
of the Jenny Lind voice, for she is announced to sing, 
without orchestra, a composition written expressly for her 
by Meyerbeer, — a trio for voice and two flutes, Kyle play- 
ing the first flute, and another popular favorite playing the 
second. Jenny Lind's vocal skill in rivaling with the flutes 
produces such a novel and striking performance as New 
York has never heard before, and, indeed, may never hear 
again. Her flute song embodies three movements ; the earliest 
an allegro with the first flute in which voice and instrument 
are so perfectly blended that at times it is impossible to de- 
termine whether the voice is from the flute or the flute from 
the voice. The second movement is an andante with the second 
flute, which produces a similar blending, but in a key dififerent 
from the first and running up into F in alt. In the third, the 
flutes are in duet with the voice ; when the flutes pause, the 
voice continues alone, imitating the flute movement." 

When my Jenny Lind flute was returned to me, I had a silver 
band bearing an engraved inscription put around it. I still 
have the flute and I prize it to-day, by virtue of its associations, 
beyond almost any other possession. 

John Howard Payne was present at Jenny Lind's last ap- 
pearance in Washington. In response to a call for an en- 



6o REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

core, she suddenly turned her face to the part of the theater 
where Payne was sitting, and looking him steadily in the face 
sang " Home, Sweet Home " with such pathos and power as 
to melt the whole audience to tears. Even Daniel Webster's 
self-control forsook him, and Payne nearly lost his reason in 
listening thus unexpectedly to her magnificent rendition of his 
own immortal lyric. 

Jenny Lind was not a handsome woman, but had a queenly 
person — with dark hair, a lovely neck, fine color, and per- 
fectly formed arms. She was accompanied by the celebrated 
tenor Mario (the acknowledged successor of Rubini) whose 
beauty attracted the ladies quite as much as his voice. 

Ten years later, in the autumn of i860, the Prince of Wales 
visited New York, accompanied by the Duke of Newcastle and 
a suite of seven or eight distinguished persons. 

Early in August a reception committee of one hundred citi- 
zens was appointed of which the venerable philanthropist, 
Peter Cooper, was chairman. I was the youngest member of 
that committee, and am probably the only survivor. 

I cannot resist calling attention to the financial miracle per- 
formed by our managing secretary, Maunson B. Field, who, 
instead of reporting (as is usual in the case of popular sub- 
scription entertainments) a deficiency to be made good by the 
subscribers, reported a considerable surplus, which the sub- 
scribers ordered to be distributed to charity. 

The following document throws some light upon the means 
by which this remarkable feat was achieved : 



"BALL IN HONOR OF 
" HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS, THE PRINCE OF WALES. 



" We, the undersigned, Members of the Citizens' Committee 
for the Ball in honor of the Prince of Wales, severally agree 
to subscribe each the sum of Seventy Dollars, in accordance 
with the following conditions, with the understanding, how- 



OLD NEW YORK DAYS 6i 

ever, that any amount remaining over after all expenses shall 
be paid shall be returned pro rata. 



CONDITIONS REFERRED TO ABOVE: 

" Twenty-Eight Hundred Tickets shall be finally issued. 
Every gentleman on the Committee to have the right to seven 
accepted invitations, subscribing therefor the sum of Seventy 
Dollars. The invitations to be in the proportion of four ladies 
to three gentlemen. Each member of the Committee will hand 
in to the Secretary the names of the persons whom he pro- 
poses to have invited, and as soon as these names are approved 
by the Invitation Committee, the Secretary will issue the in- 
vitations. Upon the acceptance of these invitations, Tickets 
(not transferable) will be issued. If any invitations are de- 
clined, the gentleman at whose request they were issued will 
have the liberty of presenting other names until his full com- 
plement of Tickets is exhausted. Any tickets which may be 
left over will be in the hands of the Secretary to be disposed of 
pro rata among those Members of the General Committee 
who may make application for them in time, with the same 
provisions as above. Every Ticket to be carefully registered, 
and to be countersigned by one of the Committee on Tickets 
and Finance, and also by the gentleman at whose request it 
was issued. 

" New York. September 4th, i860." 

Another committee of nine was appointed to organize a 
suitable banquet in honor of the visitors. The members of 
this committee were William B. Astor, Pelatiah Perit, William 
Kent, Moses Taylor, John A. Dix, Robert B. Minturn, John 
J. Cisco, Wilson G. Hunt, and Julian C. Verplanck, not one 
of whom now survives. 

The banquet, the ball, and the various receptions were worthy 
of our guest and creditable to the hospitality of the city of 
New York. 

The ball naturally caused a good deal of manoeuvering on 



62 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

the part of the ambitious society mammas who were Anxious 
that their daughters should have the honor of dancing with 
the Prince. The Committee very properly awarded this honor 
in the first set to the wife of Governor Morgan — a very large, 
dignified lady, who, it was said, had taken lessons of a dancing 
master for the occasion. But afterward the Prince, who was a 
boy in stature, as in years, selected partners nearer his own 
size. 

Early in the evening, as the Prince and his escort came to 
the center of the hall, there was a rush on the part of the 
spectators, and the timbers which supported the temporary 
flooring over the pit of the Academy of Music gave way, tumb- 
ling many of us in a heap, but causing no damage to life or 
limb, and very little to costume, as the floor settled only four 
feet quite gradually. The Duke of Newcastle, not a little 
alarmed, hurried the Prince to a reception room. One of the 
more enterprising young ladies rendered her fair friends vastly 
jealous by monopolizing the Prince there while the floor was 
being repaired and strengthened by the carpenters ; after the 
dancing commenced, however, he made his attentions general, 
irrespective of the claims of society belles languishing for his 
notice. 

Mayor Wood had the honor of entertaining the Prince at 
a breakfast at his country seat, and Col. Delafield, commanding 
at West Point, gave him a reception there at which Gen. Scott 
made the presentations of the guests to the royal party, with 
his customary dignity and discrimination. An incident oc- 
curred, however, which shows that there is something in a 
name, despite Shakespeare. I quote from Ward McAllister: 

" I approached Gen. Scott asking him to present me to his 
Royal Highness. Great as he was in height, he bent down his 
head to me and asked sharply, ' What name, sir? ' I gave my 
name, McAllister, but at the sound of Mc, not thinking it 
distinguished enough, he said quite brusquely, ' Pass on, sir.' 
Subsequently I was presented to the Prince by the Duke of 
Newcastle." 



CHAPTER III 

BUSINESS MEMORIES 

In 1848, having decided to settle permanently in New York, 
I leased No. 57 Broad Street, near Wall Street, and established 
myself as a commission merchant for the sale of cotton, rice, 
sugar, and other Southern products, and as an agent of several 
Southern insurance companies and banks. I also became the 
selling agent of the Townsend factory, the first South Caro- 
lina cotton yarn factory to be represented in New York. 

Here let me give an amusing incident connected with 
this Broad Street tenancy. The building was a four- 
story brick block, the upper stories of which were sup- 
ported by square granite pillars about eighteen inches wide. 
I sublet the second floor to the lawyer, Horace F. Clarke, 
who had recently married the daughter of Commodore 
Vanderbilt. Mr. Clarke was not only an astute and prom- 
inent lawyer but, being wealthy, was a large lender of 
money to his needy clients at, as they thought, exorbitant 
rates — " shaves," to use the slang of the day. Now the granite 
pillars of the ground story offered only a restriced space for 
the names of tenants, and my name had to be printed in two 
lines. Mr. Clarke, being too well known to need given name 
or initials, used the single word Clarke. One night some dis- 
gruntled client of Mr. Clarke procured a miniature barber's 
pole, secured it under the names by carefully fabricated iron 
clamps, and painted the word " shaves " under Clarke — 
making the inscription over the barber's pole read : 

RICHARD 

lathers 

CLARKE 

SHAVES. 

63 



64 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

Although not a Httle mortified when I came to my office to 
find a crowd gathered making fun of the above, I was obhged 
to confess that for a stranger in a strange city I was being 
given a generous share of free advertising. 

I never recall this period without gratitude for the way in 
which I was treated by my competitors in my various lines of 
business, who, instead of making my business beginnings dif- 
ficult, as they might have done, accorded me — almost without 
exception — kindness and support. 

Shortly after my removal to New York an old friend (a 
retired merchant and Ex-Mayor of Brooklyn) who was or- 
ganizing a Marine Insurance Company, requested me to sub- 
scribe, and I took some $5,000 of the capital stock to aid him 
to procure for himself the presidency of the company. The 
company seemed, for a few months, to be doing a fair busi- 
ness. One day the president asked me to make the company a 
loan on call of some $10,000, by which he proposed to antici- 
pate payment of a loss not yet due, and obtain a rebate thereon. 
On calling in the loan, after a couple of months. I was sur- 
prised at being told that it would be inconvenient for the 
company to pay for two or three weeks. I at once said to the 
president, " There must be some lax management of your 
finances." He replied, " My finance committee are neither very 
capable nor very energetic, and if I could persuade you to 
accept a directorship and the chairmanship of the finance com- 
mittee, the board of directors would be glad to elect you." 
The directors being respectable bankers and shipping mer- 
chants, I replied, " Considering my stock and my loan to the 
company, I will accept." On taking the position and examin- 
ing the books, I soon discovered that the capital appeared to 
be impaired, and calling a meeting of the board, I informed 
them that each member would be responsible personally for the 
future indebtedness of the company if they should continue in 
business with an impaired capital. I advised that the com- 
pany suspend business and that the stockholders he assessed 
and required to pay in twenty-five per cent, on their stock, to 
make good the apparent deficiency of the capital, by a given 



BUSINESS MEMORIES 65 

day, when business would be resumed. The stockholders came 
forward promptly with the funds, which were placed to my 
own credit in the Bank of the Republic, to be transferred to 
the company as soon as it should be ascertained that the contri- 
butions would cover the full extent of the deficiency. Some of 
the larger creditors, however, for some sinister purpose, act- 
ually withheld the presentation of their claims till the day 
fixed by the notice for resumption, when such a perfect ava- 
lanche of claims came in that I was satisfied that the company 
was bankrupt. I called the board together and so informed 
them, and they were very grateful to me for withholding the 
funds paid in by the stockholders, to whom they were at once 
returned. 

The year 1854 was a disastrous one for marine underwriters. 
Many of the companies became bankrupt, especially the mutual 
companies. The need of more companies and more capital in 
the business to cover merchants' and bankers' credit in the 
city led to the fonnation of a stock company with a large cash 
capital subscribed by investors, with a division of profits — to 
be annually declared — of one quarter to capital and three 
quarters to the dealers in scrip. This system of dividing profits 
which I devised after much thought was designed to meet the 
desire for cash capital and inspire confidence, and at the same 
time compete with the mutual system attractive to customers 
because the whole profits reverted to them. 

On being oflfered the presidency of this new company, called 
the Great Western Marine Insurance Company, I said flatly 
to the committee who approached me that I was unwilling to 
give up my large commission business to push this novel 
scheme, although it was of my own invention, unless the 
capital should be fixed at $5,000,000; unless I should be one 
of the largest stockholders ; unless I should be permitted to 
select from thirty to thirty-six directors from among the lead- 
ing bankers and merchants interested in foreign trade directly 
or indirectly; and unless each director should be required to 
hold at least $10,000 worth of stock. 

One of the committee asked me if I had in mv mind such a 



66 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

board of directors as I described, to which I rephed that in 
anticipation of the question I had prepared a list which I 
thought would meet their approbation. Another member of 
the committee then asked, " Do you know that these gentlemen 
will serve ? Have you consulted them ? " I replied that I 
had not consulted them and indeed had never met some of 
them and knew intimately only a few. But I believed that 
the general desire for a substantial company with a large cash 
capital on which to base commercial credits and the pleasant 
prospect of making a part of so distinguished and unique a 
board of directors would have great weight with them. This 
opinion was fully vindicated by the readiness with which the 
directorships were accepted and by the speed with which the 
capital stock was over-subscribed. 

At a dinner in London during the Civil War I was intro- 
duced to the president of the Bank of England, who, when 
told that I was the president of the Great Western Insurance 
Company of New York remarked, " That is one of the New 
York corporations in which I know personally or by reputa- 
tion most of the directors." 

The directors of the Great Western at the time the president 
of the Bank of England made this significant observation, were : 
Richard Lathers, president ; W. C. Pickersgill, of W. C. Pick- 
ersgill & Co., London and Liverpool ; James Benkard, of Ben- 
kard & Hutton, Lyons and Paris ; Wm. H. Guion, of Williams 
& Guion, New York and Liverpool ; Sam'l D. Babcock, of 
Babcock Bros. & Co., bankers, Liverpool ; James M. Brown, of 
Brown Bros. & Co., bankers. New York and London ; H. F. 
Spaulding, of Spaulding, Hunt & Co. ; J. L. Aspinwall, of How- 
land & Aspinwall, commission merchants ; John Allen, Southern 
banker ; Gustavus Kutter, of Loeschigk, Wesendonck & Co., 
Switzerland ; L. H. Brigham, of Brigham & Parsons, Savannah, 
Ga. ; J. A. Mecke, of Reiner & Mecke, Germany ; John R. 
Gardner, banker, of Pickersgill & Co., London ; Wm. Wright, of 
R. L. Maitland & Co., Emile Heineman, of Heineman & Pay- 
son; N. Chandler, of J. Monroe & Co., bankers, Paris; Robert 
Spedding, of Henry A. Swift & Co. ; J. B. Johnston, of J. Boor- 



BUSINESS MEMORIES bj 

man Johnston & Co., bankers ; Wm. M. Evarts, of Evarts, 
Southmayd & Choate ; Fred'k. C. Gebhard, of Schuchardt & 
Gebhard, bankers ; Sam'l B. Caldwell, of Caldwell & Morris, 
Mobile, Ala. ; Geo. W. Hennings, of Mannings & Gosling, Ger- 
many ; Wilson G. Hunt, of Sullivan, Randolph & Budd ; J. J. 
Crane, president of Bank of the Republic ; George W. Bee, of 
Williams, Bee & Co. ; Wm. B. Duncan, of Duncan, Sherman 
& Co., bankers ; Rob't M. Olyphant, of Olyphant, Son & Co., 
China merchants ; J. Pierpont Morgan, of J. Pierpont Morgan 
& Co., bankers ; Thomas Slocomb ; Geo. A. Phelps, Jr., of 
Chamberlaine, Phelps & Co., Sicilian merchants. 

A few years after the Great Western was organized a rather 
remarkable instance of barratry occurred by which this com- 
pany was the chief sufferer. As president, therefore, I took the 
prosecution in hand and called on the counsel of the company, 
Wm. M. Evarts, to give it special attention. Mr. Evarts pro- 
posing to refer the case to Joseph H. Choate, who was then 
his clerk or junior partner, I objected to the appointment of 
so young and unknown a practitioner, whatever his natural 
ability might be, in view of the fact that the well-known lawyer, 
Oakey Hall, had been retained by the defense. Mr. Evarts 
said, " Let him manage the case and you will have cause to 
withdraw your objection to his want of experience." Need- 
less to say, Mr. Evarts was right. This was Mr. Choate's first 
case in a field in which he has since reaped much honor. 

Another young man regarding whom I was skeptical in 
the early stages of his career was J. Pierpont Morgan. I 
remember distinctly that when he was proposed as a director 
of the Great Western I was decidedly of the opinion that he 
would not " do " at all, and that I gave my consent to his oc- 
cupying so responsible a position with the greatest reluctance. 

I became a member of the New York Chamber of Commerce 
in 1855, at which time it numbered less than 350 members, 
with the majority of whom I as an underwriter and a merchant 
had business relations. The Chamber was made up mainly of 
commission merchants, ship owners, marine underwriters, and 
bankers. Indeed, the larger transactions of business at that 



68 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

time were concentrated in one exchange, now used as a cus- 
tom house, where merchants, brokers, and bankers met daily, 
at noon, thereby coming into closer personal relations with 
one another than they do to-day. The Chamber has actively 
promoted the commerce of New York and co-operated with 
the authorities in every good work for the advancement of the 
business and security of the country. Its services, during the 
Civil War in particular, were worthy of the business and 
social position of its members ; I only regret an absence of ap- 
preciation and support of free trade, the very essence of com- 
merce. 

July 18, 1855, I was elected a director of the New York 
and Erie Railroad. 

The wit of the Union Club (to which I belonged for a 
time), commenting one day on the alleged uncertainty of the 
published financial statements of the Erie Road, observed that 
its bookkeeper kept a lead pencil and an india rubber eraser on 
his desk instead of pen and ink; and, although the joke was 
at my expense, it was too good to be resented. This wit, 
who was a prominent stockholder, was the single saving fea- 
ture of a club that was hopelessly dull in all other respects. 
Catching sight of a railroad attorney (who was believed to 
fatten on railroad receiverships), with his hands in his 

trousers' pockets, he ejaculated, " Why, if there isn't X , 

with his hands in his own pockets!" When a certain bald- 
headed banker boasted in his presence of being a self-made 
man, he said, " Then why the Devil didn't you put more hair 
on your head ? " And to a young Englishman, who, pretending 
not to hear something he had said, leaned back in his chair 
and put an eye-glass to his right eye with a typically British 
" Aw ? Aw ? " he retorted, " You don't mean to say you hear 
with that damned thing, do you ? " 

But I am straying far from the Erie Road, about my con- 
nection with which I began to speak. 

As chairman of the Finance Committee of the Erie, I had 
to arraign repeatedly Daniel Drew, who was one of the 
directors, for selling the company's stock short at times when 



BUSINESS MEMORIES 69 

the knowledge of such sales was calculated to injure the 
credit of the road, then struggling to meet its obligations by 
bank loans in anticipation of future earnings. Mr. Drew was 
the personification of good nature, even when taken to task 
for this reprehensible practice. He would answer promptly, 
" Them boys [meaning his partners] have done this, and I will 
put a stop to it at once." Then, when his short sales as a 
bear had effected his purpose, he would turn around and bull 
the stock. His desire to speculate in this way was so strong 
that I found it useless to attempt to control him. 

The Morse Brothers, who were tenants of the Great West- 
ern in William Street, were at one time very successful bulls 
in the stock market. Learning through Mr. Drew and other 
directors that the Erie was doing well, they began to purchase 
the stock freely. Drew, finding the market greatly advanced, 
began to sell out — employing outside brokers in order that 
the sales might not be traced to him. Other speculators, de- 
siring to avail themselves of the profits already in sight, began 
to sell also. The object of Morse Brothers was to make what 
with stock brokers is called a corner, by holding all the market- 
able stock. They felt so sure of their ground that they pur- 
chased more of the stock than they had ready funds to pay for, 
and then applied to Drew for a loan on the stock, to enable 
them to continue purchasing, relying on him to retain his 
stock and keep up its market value by reason of his interest 
in the road as a director. Drew proposed that they should 
share equally with him (in consideration of a loan of $50,000) 
the nominal profits which they had realized on their early pur- 
chases, when the stock was depressed. This they objected to, 
offering about 20 per cent. Drew advised them to consider 
the proposition until the next day, which they promised to do. 
That evening they found an enormous block of Drew's stock 
on sale, which they purchased, not knowing it was his. They 
hastened to accept Drew's offer the next day, when to their 
great disappointment and disgust he informed them that he 
regretted that they had not accepted it the day before, since 
the banks had disappointed him in the loans he had hoped to 



70 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

make to aid them, and he could only raise $5,000 at once, while 
they needed a lump sum of nearly $100,000 to carry them over. 
The result was the suspension of the house the next day, when, 
by reason of the fall in the market under the forced sale. Drew 
was able to purchase back the same stock he had sold a few 
days before at 50 per cent, less than he had sold it for. I met 
Drew at the office of the Erie a few days after, and remarked 
that I was sorry to observe the failure of Morse Brothers. 
" Do you know," replied Drew, " them boys are angry with me 
because I could not raise $100,000 for them to bridge over 
their own imprudence ? " 

Although Mr. Drew was (to put it mildly) " rather sharp," 
nevertheless I always found him ready to aid me as chair- 
man of the Finance Committee, by his name and his bank 
account as indorser for the road, whenever the road's bank 
account was found to be too small for its obligations. His 
character was a singular combination of religious and chari- 
table impulses and an intense and irresistible passion for stock 
gambling. He was a fervent Methodist, and devoted a large 
part of the proceeds of his gambling to founding a Methodist 
seminary and to supporting the Methodist churches of the 
city. 

It is narrated of him, that, being greatly moved by an elo- 
quent clerical appeal for a certain mission, he pledged $10,000, 
a sum which seemed to him when he came to think it over 
calmly more than he could spare from his business. " I at once 
resorted to prayer — my usual remedy — to help me out of my 
dilemma," he said shortly after a class meeting, " and be- 
sought the Lord to show me the way out of the difficulty. Con- 
fident of relief, I went down to my business the next morning, 
my brethren, and fleeced them fellows out of double the sum 
I needed." 

Another New York financier in whose character respect for 
religion was strangely blended with irreligious qualities, was 
Commodore Vanderbilt. I once took an English friend to the 
Manhattan Club, at whose whist table the Commodore was a 
nightly and earnest sitter. When I pointed out the Commodore, 



BUSINESS MEMORIES 71 

who was wearing a white cravat, my friend remarked that he 
had observed him at the card table because he was surprised 
to find a clergyman engaged in playing whist for money, but 
had concluded that this liberty was accorded clergymen in 
America. At that instant this clerical-looking gentleman, being 
displeased by a false lead, came out with the most flagrant 
layman's oath conceivable. 

When Commodore Vanderbilt was fitting out his celebrated 
sea-going yacht for his cruise around the world, my young 
brother-in-law, whose father was an old friend of the Com- 
modore, inquired of him whether he would take a chaplain on 
the voyage with him. The Commodore replied with consid- 
erable spirit, " Do you think I am such a damned heathen as 
to go to sea on as long a voyage as this without a chaplain — 
in case of death among guests or crew ? " 

The maxim of Franklin, " Take care of the pennies and the 
dollars will take care of themselves," has had little to do with 
the amassing of the colossal fortunes of New York. I often 
saw from my office window the millionaire ship-owner, Ed- 
ward Mott Robinson, haggling with the poor woman at the 
corner fruit stand over the price of a few peaches with which 
to eke out the economical lunch he was carrying in a little 
satchel in his hand. He lived in a plain boarding house in 
Jersey City, and thus avoided taxation in New York. His 
fortune was not the result of his parsimoniousness, but of 
his enterprise and skill. 



CHAPTER IV 

EFFORTS TO SAVE THE UNION 

One of the earliest efforts to save the Union from threatened 
civil war was the large meeting of conservative citizens held 
at the Academy of Music, Dec. 19th, 1859, over which Daniel 
F. Tiemann, the Mayor of New York, presided, and of which 
I had the honor to be one of the vice presidents. 

The Committee of Arrangements were : James W. Beek- 
man, Matthew Morgan, D. M. Whitlock, Joshua J. Henry, 
Wilson G. Hunt, James T. Soutter, Henry Grinnel, Watts 
Sherman, Gerard Hallock, S. L. M. Barlow, William H. 
Appleton, E. E. Morgan, James Brooks, Alexander T. Stewart. 

The call for the meeting, which I give herewith, was signed 
by 20,000 citizens (fully one-third of the actual vote of the 
city), representing all classes and parties. An extract from 
this public notice will give the reader an idea of the temper 
of the times : 

" THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH. 

" JUSTICE AND FRATERNITY. 

" The undersigned, regarding with just abhorrence the 
crimes of John Brown, and his confederates, desire to unite with 
our fellow-citizens of New-York and vicinity, in a public and 
formal denunciation of that and all similar outrages, and to 
declare our unalterable purpose to stand by the Constitution 
in all its parts, as interpreted by the Supreme Court of the 
United States ; and we hereby denounce as unpatriotic and 
untrue, revolutionary and dangerous, the idea of an irrepres- 
sible conflict existing between the two great sections of our 
beloved Union. On the contrary, we maintain that the North 
and the South were created for each other; that there is a 

72 



EFFORTS TO SAVE THE UNION 73 

natural and necessary affinity between them, by parentage, 
history, religion, language, and geographical position; and 
that even their different climates, and different forms of in- 
dustry, add strength to this bond of union, by enabling them 
to supply each other's wants. And we hereby solemnly pledge 
ourselves, from this hour, by our influence, our example, our 
votes, and by every other proper means, to discountenance 
and oppose sectionalism in all its forms. Those of our 
fellow-citizens who share these sentiments with us, are re- 
quested to join us in a public expression of the same, at such 
time and place as may be designated by this Committee." 

This call was responded to with a cordiality unprecedented 
in this city. The meeting was opened with prayer by Rev. 
Dr. Vermilye. Speeches were made by James Brooks, Charles 
O 'Conor, Ex-Governor Washington Hunt, James S. Thayer, 
Ex-Senator John A. Dix, Prof. Mitchell, and Rev. Dr. Bethune, 
and letters were read from Ex-President Martin Van Buren, 
Ex-President Fillmore, Ex-President Pierce, U. S. Senator 
Dickinson, Ex-Governor Briggs of Massachusetts, D. D. Bar- 
nard, and General Winfield Scott. 

This same month I was appointed by the State Central 
Committee at Albany one of a Committee of Three to call 
meetings throughout the State for the purpose of choosing 
delegates to the Charleston Democratic Convention. We were 
greatly disappointed by the unfortunate adjournment of this 
convention, from which may be dated the inception of seces- 
sion. The following July, I refused to represent New Rochelle 
in the County Nominating Convention, called to appoint a 
delegate from Westchester to the State Convention of Syra- 
cuse, on the ground that I could not sympathize with either 
faction of the party in action which threatened the defeat 
of the party, if not the destruction of the Union. Notwith- 
standing my refusal to attend the County Convention, I was 
unanimously elected in that convention to represent the county 
in the State Convention. Thereupon one of my friends de- 
clared that he knew that I would not go to Syracuse, and 



74 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

proposed to have an alternate appointed. But the convention 
declined to accept my refusal as final, and passed unanimously 
a resolution that Col. Lathers should be empowered to name 
a delegate in his place if unwilling to go himself. I could not 
resist this implied compliment, and I accepted the appointment. 

Every effort of the conservative Democrats to preserve the 
unity of party nominations for the Federal ticket failed, how- 
ever, not only in the State of New York, but virtually over 
the whole country. I received many letters from leading 
Democrats and Democratic committees before and immediately 
after the Presidential election which showed that a patriotic 
and earnest effort was made to preserve the unity of the party 
and thereby avert the rupture of the Union which the en- 
croachments of the fanatical North on the constitutional rights 
of the South, combined with the ill-considered form assumed 
by the natural resentment thereat in the South, were rendering 
inevitable. 

In November, i860, I sent to five representative citizens of 
Charleston, South Carolina, the following letter: 

" New York, 28th Nov., i860. 
"Henry Gourdin, Esq.; Col. C. G. Memminger; Hon. A 

G. Magrath ; Nelson Mitchell, Esq. ; George A. Tren- 

HOLM, Esq. 

"Dear Sirs: — The grave aspect of the Secession movement 
in your State alarms a large class of your friends in this State, 
and induces the fear that the usual influence of conservative 
men. like yourselves, has not been exercised to check undue 
excitement, and to engraft on laudable Southern resistance 
more deliberate and timely measures to enforce redress of 
Southern wrongs. 

" We fear that your people ignore or greatly undervalue the 
support and sympathy, not only of your Southern brethren, 
but of a large and important class of men in the Northern 
States, who are battling most strenuously, generously, and 
potently in behalf of Southern rights, and against the fell 
spirit of fanaticism that surrounds them. 



EFFORTS TO SAVE THE UNION 75 

" These men have been driven into a minority while defend- 
ing, in their respective localities, your rights, and the consti- 
tutional integrity of the country against the fanatical preju- 
dices and sectional demagogism of a powerful and aggressive 
home party. 

" This defeat has subjected them, in their municipal rela- 
tions, to acts of tyranny and to wholesale pecuniary exactions 
hitherto unknown to American legislation, the people of this 
city being subjected under the hostile party legislation of the 
Republican State administration to a degree of oppression ap- 
propriate only to a conquered province. 

" Yet by many efforts and by intelligent and deliberate 
measures, we are gradually overcoming the fanatical section- 
alism and corrupt demagogism, which so long have threatened 
the disruption of our national and State institutions. Laying 
aside old issues, the National men of all parties have rallied 
to the rescue of Southern rights, and to the enforcement of 
Northern duties ; and the issues presented by them in the na- 
tional election have met with a success unparalleled in the 
history of sectional struggles. Of about 650,000 votes cast 
in this State, we polled over 300,000, and that under circum- 
stances of great disadvantage to ourselves, and of great ad- 
vantage to our adversaries. The Republicans went into the 
canvass a united and well-drilled party, eager for a success 
which promised power to their organization, and lucrative 
places and contracts to their leaders. For our contest with 
this united sectional and fanatical organization, led by dema- 
gogues of great skill and financial resources, we had but three 
weeks in which to fuse three mutually hostile groups, whose 
unfortunate bickerings and recriminations furnished our ad- 
versaries with some of their most effective arguments against 
us ; the more that these groups were addressed, in many cases, 
by Southern men who made it a point to foment their re- 
spective prejudices. In addition to this want of harmony which 
we had so little time to ameliorate, we had operating against 
us all the well known dissatisfaction with the present ad- 
ministration, many of the charges against which are, I fear. 



76 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

well founded. Yet it is well known here that if we had had 
but a few weeks' more time we would have carried the State, 
notwithstanding the unfortunate want of agreement in the 
South as to the nomination. As it is, we have elected so many 
additional congressmen, as to msure safe legislation in the 
lower house. 

" A revolution in the public sentiment of the North regard- 
ing the questions connected with the constitutional rights of 
the South, is progressing with a celerity rarely paralleled in 
the history of any social question so deeply rooted in prejudice 
and nourished by fanaticism. During the canvass, I addressed 
large meetings, both in this State and New Jersey, before 
which I discussed slavery in all its aspects, socially, morally 
and politically. And my remarks were always well received, 
although you know my views on this subject coincide with 
those of Mr. Calhoun, whose utterances (with few exceptions), 
on great subjects of national interest will yet, I hope, find a 
response in every Southern heart and become the text book 
of every American. Ten years ago such remarks would not 
have been tolerated for a moment by any Northern audience. 
And it is to be regretted that many Southern men have made 
concessions in regard to this and kindred subjects, which are 
quoted to our disadvantage. Indeed, the whole canvass was 
characterized by an open defense of slavery per se (as logically 
and eloquently enunciated by Charles O'Conor in his great 
Union speech last winter), as well as of the undoubted right 
of the South, under the protecting clauses of the Constitu- 
tion, to enjoy this institution in the Territories as well as in 
the States. The public mind is rapidly coming to understand 
the force of these arguments, and it only requires the united 
firmness of the whole South, to insure those rights under the 
Constitution which, I fear, separate State action cannot enforce. 

" These facts are adduced to show that the Northern mind 
is becoming indoctrinated with wholesome truths, which are 
gradually and surely tending to destroy sectionalism. And, 
although the New England element is still a formidable bar- 
rier, and, I fear, will long resist the constitutional rights of 



EFFORTS TO SAVE THE UNION -j-j 

the South, yet a united, firm and vigorous demonstration of the 
whole South, demanding from the new administration and 
the next Congress an unequivocal recognition of every South- 
ern right, and a practical and vigorous enforcement of every 
Northern duty, will be powerfully seconded at the North by 
a force both moral and physical (hitherto dormant), that will 
defy opposition and insure success. Should sectionalism pre- 
vail, however, and the aggressive spirit of abolition prevent 
that moderation and justice after the inauguration, which have 
been promised by the leaders of the Republican party, the 
cause of the South will have been strengthened by present for- 
bearance, and its adversaries will have been made responsible 
for a rupture which cannot then be avoided by the Southern 
States with honor and security. A convention of the united 
South, demanding its rights under the Constitution, could not 
be resisted (short of downright revolution), without raising 
a bitter issue in every State of the Union ; and no administra- 
tion or party could survive such an ordeal. Nor is there any 
fear that the incoming administration desires such an issue, 
however much its extreme partisans might rejoice to see your 
gallant State, chafing under its wrongs, precipitate itself into 
the doubtful experiment of secession. 

" For the practical success of secession even, deliberation 
as to the best measures and time to unite all the elements 
favorable to it would be important; but when you reflect on 
the great moment of the issue to the State, and consider the 
predominant advantages of a struggle within the Union, a 
struggle in which all the good and true friends of constitu- 
tional liberty in every State would aid and in which the legis- 
lative and judicial branches of the Government would be on 
your side, the argument seems irresistible in favor of trying 
to live within the Union. Under these conditions to resort 
to the experiment of a revolution, which, even if peaceful, 
would involve evils of a magnitude disagreeable to contem- 
plate, would seem to be fool-hardy. Furthermore you would 
renounce thereby all the power conferred upon you by the 
Federal Government, and leave your friends less able to assert 



78 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

your rights or protect their own in the coming Congress ; and 
this, at a period vital to the very existence of our national 
Government, and vital to the stability and independence of 
the Southern States. 

" It is no part of my object to discuss the propriety of 
separate State action, or the abstract right of States to secede 
from a Union by which its essential constitutional provisions 
have been grossly violated. The injured party, in such a case, 
has, at least, the natural right of revolution, and few freemen 
will hesitate to resort to such an alternative when other reme- 
dies have been proved hopeless. My object is to ask your con- 
sideration of the safer and speedier remedy within the Union, 
through co-operation with your friends, North and South ; 
and to call your attention to the probabilities of success in a 
deliberate and organized effort under the incoming adminis- 
tration, and the new Congress, to obtain your Constitutional 
rights. Failing in this, to destroy the Government that re- 
fuses them would be the only proceeding possible. 

" It is true we have been defeated under the forms of the 
Constitution, and a sectional executive will administer the 
Government ; yet he will not have the power to appoint so much 
as a cabinet adviser, without the approval of the Senate, which 
is with us. Nor will he or his party be able to pass an obnox- 
ious law, since both branches of the legislature are with us. 
We shall have the protection of the judiciary also, to construe 
our rights under existing laws ; and a large and intelligent 
body of active men in the North, whose sympathies are now 
enlisted, will battle for the rights of the South and the perpet- 
uation of the Union. A large number of the Republicans even 
can be relied on, when the questions of Southern rights present 
themselves disentangled from a presidential election. Such is 
the innate love of our common country, with its glorious history 
and bright promise, that the threatening aspects of the situa- 
tion have already produced a reaction, which tells strongly on 
public sentiment, even in Republican communities. If all these 
promised advantages shall fail to secure the South its con- 
stitutional rights, I trust that present moderation will but 



EFFORTS TO SAVE THE UNION 79 

nerve a united South to the firm determination, tliat, in or out 
of the Union, her institutions shall be protected, and her rights 
preserved. 

" I enclose a copy of a letter addressed, a few days since, 
to a distinguished member of the present national administra- 
tion, Howell Cobb, Secretary of the Treasury, by my friend 
General John A. Dix, a former able Senator from this State. 
He treats the subject admirably, and speaks the sentiments of 
a large and influential class, whose efforts in favor of Southern 
rights can be relied upon. 

" I have conversed with him, with Charles O'Conor, Esq., 
and a large number of distinguished men, whose hearts are 
with the South, and whose exertions and large pecuniary con- 
tributions during the recent contest prove their earnestness 
in the cause. These men sincerely desire that the South should 
be united for the coming contest under the new administration. 

" But should a joint demand of a Southern Convention of 
the States aggrieved fail to secure a peaceful solution of the 
problem, they would regard secession as the only remedy left 
for the South, and the North as powerless to resist it. If you 
think a delegation of leading men from the State of New 
York, coming to you in the capacity of consulting and sympa- 
thizing friends, would be favorably received, we will cheer- 
fully send you such a delegation. I am sanguine, that much 
mutual advantage would be derived from such a kindly inter- 
change of sentiments and that the mutual confidence which 
ought to exist between men battling for the same objects, and 
resisting the same evils would thereby be created. This time 
seems to be peculiarly opportune for such a meeting, because 
there are now no disturbing party favorites to interfere with 
its purposes, as was unfortunately the case at the last Con- 
vention at Charleston and because the alarming position of the 
country calls for the co-operation of the good and influential 
men of every section. 

" I take the liberty of addressing you on this subject, feeling 
that my residence in the State of New York does not deprive 
me of the right to offer my advice and services to my old 



8o REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

fellow-citizens, with whose interests I hope I shall never fail 
to sympathize, and whose honor and safety I esteem next to 
my own. I received my first military commission from the 
lamented Governor Butler; and I shall always be ready to 
respond to the call of his successor, should the State need 
her absent sons to aid in the defence of her soil. 

" I am conscious of the delicate nature of my proposition, 
and of the various sinister motives that open enemies or in- 
judicious friends might attribute to either your action at the 
South or ours at the North in conforming to it. Yet I am 
satisfied that you will rely on my sincerity, and I hope you 
will think favorably of the project, as a practical means of 
allaying further excitement in your section, and enlisting 
healthy public sentiment in ours. 

" I would further remark, in confirmation of my views, that 
I had a long and satisfactory interview with a distinguished 
Republican leader yesterday — an interview for the purpose 
of learning the probable policy of the party. I invited the 
utmost candor and avowed my intention of communicating 
the information to influential persons in the South. He said 
that while the policy of the Republican party could not be 
entirely ignored, yet the South should have no cause to com- 
plain ; that the fugitive slave law should be practically en- 
forced in every State, and that no alteration tending in the 
least to render it less effective to the interests of the South, 
should be countenanced. I am satisfied that the Republican 
party leaders will do their utmost to calm public feeling; and 
that they have the power, and the disposition, to curb the aboli- 
tion element so strongly represented in the party and perhaps 
encouraged by them hitherto for the sake of getting into power. 

" I am very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

" Richard Lathers." 

To this letter I received the following answers: 



EFFORTS TO SAVE THE UNION 8i 

" Charleston, Dec. 12, i860. 
" Richard Lathers, Esq., New York. 

" My Dear Sir: — Pardon me for having delayed so long an 
answer to your letter of Nov. 28, dictated as it was by motives 
(vhich are to be respected and appreciated. It would have 
been considered sooner, but some of the parties to whom the 
enclosure was addressed were absent from the city when it 
was received. I have only seen them within the last day or 
two. Trenholm is still in Columbia and will probably write 
you from that place. Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Memminger, re- 
garded, as you know, as conservative men, concur with Judge 
Magrath and myself, that the course of South Carolina cannot 
be changed, and that a visit, under the circumstances, of gentle- 
men such as you name, however great the respect entertained 
for them by our people, or however highly their motives are 
to be appreciated, would be without influence and utterly use- 
less for the purposes indicated. Indeed, you must yourself 
have already seen this, for your letter had hardly been written, 
when Vermont, by a large majority, refused to repeal the 
' Liberty laws' ; and the discussion in Congress, and the tone 
of the Republican press cannot fail to have satisfied you how 
little the South has to expect from any such change of senti- 
ment as you inform us is going on with so much celerity at 
the North. So far from any change favorable to the recogni- 
tion of the just claims of the South, they tend more than 
ever to convince our people that there is no hope for them 
in the Union and that their only safety is being masters of 
their own destiny. The sooner the Northern States shall 
realize this fixed sentiment of the South, the better, and it is 
for the North to decide whether a people, seeking their own 
safety under the sacred panoply of their own State sovereignty, 
shall be permitted to do so peaceably. Out of the Union, 
feeling and vindicating their own equality, they will be ready 
to trade, and to establish with the Northern States as friendly 
relations as they will with any other people, or as have existed 
between them before. But if war is to be forced upon the 



82 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

South, to compel her submission, her condition will be no 
worse than that which will be ultimately forced upon her by 
Republican rule. Secession, therefore, is the final determina- 
tion of the people of our State, and which cannot be changed. 
I would make a single remark upon General Dix's letter to 
Mr. Cobb, a copy of which you have been kind enough to send 
me. It is impossible to separate Mr. Lincoln's election, al- 
though in conformity with the forms of the Constitution, from 
the fact that he accepted, and became the candidate of a party 
upon a platform of declared hostility to the South committed 
against the further extension of slavery, by claiming to ex- 
clude slavery from the Territories and looking to the ultimate 
emancipation of the slaves throughout the South, by changes 
in the Constitution to be efifected in part by preventing any 
increase of slave States, thus rendering the Constitution, de- 
signed for the safety and protection of all the smaller and the 
weaker of the States in the Union, the instrument, the mis- 
named ' legal ' instrument, of our destruction. Mr. Polk, against 
his own convictions, had to declare that the title of the United 
States to the ' whole of Oregon was unquestioned ' because 
the Convention which nominated him so declared it ; and very 
reluctantly he was forced to bring forward his anti-tariff 
measures for the same reason. Is it not asking too much of 
the people of Carolina and the Southern States, to shut their 
eyes to the great principles involved in the election of Mr. 
Lincoln, and to submit, simply because the forms of the Con- 
stitution have been observed ? To lose sight of the platform 
of principles and policy which he accepted, upon which he 
has been elected, and which the party which elected him claim 
that he should carry out? 

" I am, very dear Sir, 

" Very Resp'y and truly 
" Yr obt Svt 

" H. GOURDIN." 



EFFORTS TO SAVE THE UNION 83 

" Charleston, Dec'r. 13, i860." 
" Richard Lathers, Esq., New York. 

"Dear Sir: — I wrote to you yesterday in answer to your 
letter of the 28th ult. stating that Messrs. Magrath, Mem- 
minger and Mitchell concurred with me in the opinion that the 
course of South Carolina could not now be changed, and that 
such a committee of gentlemen as you proposed to send to the 
Convention, however highly respected by us, or however highly 
their virtues might or would be appreciated, would be without 
influence now and wholly useless for the purposes indicated. 
Judge Magrath and myself desiring to express to you more 
fully our views, I send you by mail to-day a letter sigfned by 
us, as further answer to your letter of the 28th Nov., which 
I hope will be in time for your purposes. 

" I am very Respv 

"Yr. Obt. Svt. 

" H. GOURDIN." 

" Charleston, So. Ca., 8th Dec, i860. 
" To Richard Lathers, Esq., New York. 

" Dear Sir: — Your letter of the 28th November we have re- 
ceived and read. We will answer in the same spirit of frank- 
ness and candor with which it is written. ' The grave aspect 
of the secession movement ' in this State should not surprise 
our ' friends ' in any State. It is the natural and necessary 
consequence of the controlling public opinion in the non- 
slaveholding States in relation to our rights and our property. 
There is no ' undue excitement,' and ' the usual influence of 
conservative men ' has been steadily and urgently exercised 
in recommending to all with whom their opinions would have 
weight, the secession of this State as the necessary and only 
mode of ' Southern resistance,' and the most ' deliberate and 
timely measure, to enforce redress of Southern wrongs.' 

" You mistake us much when you ' fear that your four] 
people ignore, or greatly undervalue, the support and sympa- 
thy ' of our Southern brethren. On the contrary, the people 



84 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

of this State have given the most earnest evidence of their 
conviction of its value, when for years they have waited until 
circumstances would either ensure a concurrence with them 
in their conclusions as to the certain tendencies of the Gov- 
ernment, or signify that it would be necessary for the State 
to consult her safety unaided and alone. These circumstances 
have now been developed in the late Presidential election. The 
result of that election would have decided the course of this 
State, had no other Slaveholding State been willing to unite 
with her. But the action of other Slaveholding States, espe- 
cially those known as the Cotton States, will satisfy you that, 
had this State pursued any other course than that she has 
chosen, she would not have had their ' support and sympathy,' 
and would not have deserved either. 

" Nor have the people of this State been insensible of the 
efforts of those who, in the non-slaveholding States, have 
' generously and potently ' battled ' in behalf of Southern 
rights against the fell spirit of fanaticism which surrounds 
them.' 

" The rights of the Slaveholding States have only been, while 
these States remained in the Union, exposed to the influence 
of ' this fell spirit of fanaticism.' Their sacrifice to the Union 
has been shown in the spirit of forbearance with which they 
have adhered to it, and in doing so been exposed to constant 
attacks ; while out of it, and in themselves, and, we may say, 
each for itself, they possessed the most abundant capacity to 
maintain their institutions, and defend their rights. And al- 
though the efforts of those who have thus ' generously and 
potently ' battled with the fanatical spirit which now governs 
your State, was ostensibly and honestly exercised in over- 
coming that sentiment which was breathing out its hatred of 
us and ours : we were particularly interested in the contest, as 
it was conducted in your State and in other States, because 
while impotent to affect us, even if it gained control over you, 
we were yet forced to see that in such control you would be ex- 
posed to fearful peril in life, liberty and property. We knew 
that its essential element was a lawless spirit, insolent in its 



EFFORTS TO SAVE THE UNION 85 

assumption of a code of morals suited only to the development 
of its own ends, and reckless of the restraints which society 
imposes upon those who compose it. 

" To you the progress of this sentiment was most dangerous 
when in its incipiency it undertook to decide a question of 
property, to determine the existence of private rights. Nor 
have we ever doubted but that whenever by our separation 
from the Union, the objects which seemed to be the special 
aim of this fanaticism should be withdrawn forever from those 
who were preparing to assail it ; upon you and your rights 
and your property would be illustrated the practical applica- 
tion of those doctrines, which ostensibly were being prepared 
for our destruction. 

" Interested therefore in the political contest which has been 
ended by the success of the Republican party, we have watched 
it, because it would determine our course, not because it in- 
volved our safety. 

" With the people of this State and of the cotton slavehold- 
ing States, the failure of the attempts which were made to 
stem the tide of Abolition sentiment, is chiefly regretted be- 
cause of the desolating influences it must exercise within the 
limits of those States where it prevails, upon the persons and 
property, the life and liberty of those who within those limits 
may become the object of its wrath. 

" We cannot, therefore, admit the correctness of your state- 
ment, that they, whose efforts to arrest these measures you 
have spoken of (not more highly than they deserve), 'have 
been driven into a minority while defending your [our] rights' ; 
for the principles upon which our rights were attacked were 
the principles which would and will justify an attack upon 
any and all rights guaranteed by all laws human or divine. 
But it is true that they have been driven into a minority in 
defense ' of the constitutional integrity of the country,' and 
because of their conduct in this regard they have experienced 
' the fanatical prejudices and sectional demagogism of a pow- 
erful and aggressive home party.' And if in consequence of 
their defeat, they are in their ' municipal relations ' exposed 



86 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

to acts of t_vranny and wholesale pecuniary exactions hitherto 
unknown to American citizens ; and the people of this city 
[New York] are subjected ' under the hostile party legisla- 
tion of the Republican State administration to a degree of 
oppression appropriate only to a conquered province,' it must 
have already been made apparent to you, that in your own 
State a party has obtained political control which in the ex- 
ercise of its power will become a bitter, blighting curse ! 
Surely it is not to such companionship you would invite us — 
not to such persons that you would advise us to commit the 
guardianship of our liberties, our lives, our honor or our 
property. 

" You think that you are gradually overcoming this ' fanatical 
sectionalism and corrupt demagogism.' We should be glad 
to agree with you, but we have read the law of fanaticism with 
other lights, if in any case where it has obtained power equal 
to that now held by the Republican States, it was stayed in 
its course until it destroyed the object against which it was 
directed or was destroyed by it. You have yet to realize for 
yourselves the increase of that Republican party under the 
fostering influence of an immense Executive patronage ; ad- 
ministered so as to make the patronage of every State tributary 
to the accomplishment of its great end. You have as yet 
heard only its threats, you are yet to feel its power. And we 
deeply sympathize with you when that power will be exercised 
upon you and against you in all the plenitude of agrarian 
violence and atheistic cruelty. 

" You assure us that a Revolution in public sentiment of the 
North in relation to the Constitutional rights of the South 
is progressing with great celerity — we are sure you are mis- 
taken. That there ever has been a denial of the rights of the 
South is cause enough for the South to take care, that never 
again shall those rights be denied. But if it were, as you 
suppose, is that change of opinion honest? In what way have 
we made our rights plainer than they always have been and 
were when they were hitherto denied ? There was then the 
same evidence of their existence, the same law to support them 



EFFORTS TO SAVE THE UNION 87 

which is now before the People of the non-slaveholding States. 
They decided that evidence to be not sufficient, that Law to 
be not binding. What now makes this one sufficient or the 
other binding? In no unkind spirit we say, it is because of 
a deHberate calculation of the disadvantage which they see 
must result to them from our separation. It teaches us the 
unquestionable truth that if we can defend our rights then 
will they be respected, and if we cannot, then will they be 
assailed and denied. We cannot have faith in the forbearance 
which results from selfish apprehension, nor can we appreciate 
that fraternization which compels us to wear arms against 
our allies. 

" You tell us that the people of the North will now listen to 
opinions concerning the lawfulness of slavery, which ten years 
ago they would not have tolerated. That you and others have 
spoken plainly and truly to that people will be to you a high 
satisfaction, under the adverse circumstances which will surely 
follow in the train of events consequent upon the new adminis- 
tration of that which has been the government of the United 
States. 

" But the truths which you have spoken have met with no 
response. The noble conduct of Mr. O'Conor has stimulated 
no one to follow him in his course ; and the bold and stirring 
appeals of Mr. Gushing have fallen upon troubled ears, but 
unsympathizing hearts. You never can teach the people of 
the non-slaveholding States, that our system of slavery is con- 
sistent with all the truths of religion, and enforces in its 
practical administration the highest obligations of morality. 
They believe the reverse of all this ; and believing thus, it may 
be that under a panic or controlled by some apprehension, they 
for the time smother their sentiments. But in proportion to 
the controlling influence of the necessity which for that time 
imposes the restraint of silence and submission, will be the 
irrepressible zeal to vent their anger and gratify their pent up 
fury, when they may do so without the apprehension of per- 
nicious results to themselves ; or when perhaps some deep ex- 
citement may make them for the time insensible and indifferent 



88 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

to the suggestions of prudence. There are many men, good 
men and honest, who suppose that our right to the property 
we hold in our slaves is to be recognized by them because of 
the Constitution of the United States. And therefore that 
the source of our right and their obligation is in that instru- 
ment, not heeding that this source of their obligation and our 
right, as they apprehend it, is not only unsound in itself ; but 
that it operates more directly to stimulate the attacks which 
have been made upon us. than any position which they could 
have taken. For if the Constitution is the source of their obli- 
gation and of our right, then to change that Instrument is 
to destroy both. To obtain therefore the control of power 
by which the Constitution may be changed, becomes and is the 
great object of all their movements. That change, with the 
rapid multiplication of non-slaveholding States, may be now 
ascertained as certain to happen, and the consequences result- 
ing therefrom be realized within a period not distant, unless 
the right of a State to secede may be exercised by it, and it 
be enabled thus to avoid a doom which otherwise would be 
inevitable and overwhelming. You can thus easily see the 
denial of the right of Secession of a State, is a refusal to it 
of the privilege of securing to its citizens the protection of 
life, liberty and property, and consigns it and them to a servi- 
tude the most hopeless and hapless ; compared to which the 
condition of the negro, in our midst, would be that of perfect 
beatitude. When you refer to a change in the opinion of 
those who have hitherto been hostile to us, we cannot then 
understand or agree with you, if by it you mean an honest 
change. For more than a quarter of a century sentiments 
hostile to us and our Institutions have been unceasingly pro- 
claimed in the forum, taught in the school and preached in 
the pulpit. The present generation is controlled and that which 
is coming upon the theatre of life will be governed by pre- 
cepts which they have imbibed from their early infancy, which 
have grown with their growth and strengthened with their 
strength. Has anyone attempted to remove a prejudice from 
the mind of a single individual and been encouraged with the 



EFFORTS TO SAVE THE UNION 89 

idea of accomplishing the same work, with ten or fifty or a 
hundred; or a thousand? And if the effort is addressed to 
minions, does not the proposition as a work to be accompHshed 
by means merely human become overwhelming? And if you 
consider that while you are thus addressing yourself to the 
exercise of mere reason, other stronger influences are operat- 
ing against you ; that the schools prepare the auditor to resist 
your arguments ; the pulpit destroys your appeal however 
strong ; that you are made to appear the apologist of crime, 
the advocate of what is immoral ; the subverter of what is 
divine ; and with such influences against you where is your 
hope; where is your chance of success? 

" When you assure us of the protection which we derive from 
the Congress as the means of counteracting the designs of the 
Executive ; and the Supreme Court as favorable to our just 
rights ; you would, if you were justified in the statement, give 
us assurance of safety from sources, which are incapable of 
affording it, if they were willing to do so. But it involves 
moreover the supposition of a reference of our rights to Tri- 
bunals whose authority to consider or decide upon them, we 
repudiate and deny. Neither Congress nor the Supreme Court 
has any power to decide any question for us in relation to 
our property in our slaves. Both of these Departments of 
Government have under the Constitution certain obligations 
to perform in relation to our recovery of that property. Both 
may have attempted to discharge those obligations, but both 
have signally failed. Many States have plainly and positively 
refused to recognize their constitutional obligations. The Act 
of Congress is a dead letter in its statutes. The Supreme Court 
utters its Decrees only to be derided and despised. Both De- 
partments, if not now, may be considered within the control 
of the Republican party: and both will soon become mighty 
instruments of corruption, injustice and wrong. 

" As to the probable course of the President elect, permit us 
to sav that we prefer to hear what he says than any Republican 
leader; and that any Republican leader is indifferent authority 
with us upon any question of political justice or truth. It does 



90 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

so happen, however, that within a few days, from a RepubHcan 
Committee in the City of New York, we have known of a 
letter inviting a perusal of the opinion of Mr. Lincoln as pre- 
pared by himself; and suggesting that after such perusal we 
would see how groundless was the alleged wrong complained 
of by the South. We have carefully perused that record. In 
it we find that Mr. Lincoln denies that there is any such thing 
as property in slaves, denies that the Supreme Court has ever 
so decided, denies that it can so decide with consistency or 
truth, and tolerates the continuance of slavery in the States 
where it exists upon the ground of a present existing necessity. 
In this by necessarj' implication involving the assertion of a 
power to remove it when the necessity shall not be operative 
to prevent it ; and, of course, in that, assuming the power to 
determine when and how that necessity will be regarded as 
not operating to prevent the denial of emancipation to our 
negroes. 

" We need not suggest to you all that is involved in this 
opinion. It speaks for itself. A President who does not be- 
lieve that a negro held in servitude is property, must extend 
to that negro the protection which the law of the United States 
provides for a citizen. This is his plain duty which he swears 
to perform, if he truly expresses his opinion. Can you ask 
us to confide in this man? Can we believe him, who, if he 
does for us what you say he will, will give us a violated oath 
to his God as the guaranty of his truth to the South? It was 
due to the earnestness of your letter that we should write to 
you as fully as we have done. Our purpose is fixed ; our course 
is certain. We have adhered to the Union, while in it there 
remained for us respect for our State or regard for the rights 
of her citizens. And whatever fortune may betide our State, 
there is nothing which she has done in the past to justify re- 
proach, while in the future hopefully she seeks for her people 
that peace, safety and happiness which it is her duty to secure 
for them. 

" It will appear to you, then, that the presence of any persons 
among us, however respectable, charged with the task of urg- 



EFFORTS TO SAVE THE UNION 91 

ing upon us a change of our purpose, would be unprofitable 
and unpleasant. 

" We are, dear sir, with great respect, your obedient serv- 
ants. " A. G. Magrath, 

" H. GOURDIN.'' 

December 10, in pursuance of the project indicated in my 
letter to the representative citizens of Charleston, seventeen 
conservative men (of whom I am the only survivor), drew 
up the following circular letter and sent it to several hundred 
distinguished residents of the City and State of New York. 

" New York, Dec. loth, i860. 
" Dear Sir: — The undersigned, deeming it the duty of all 
patriotic citizens, in a crisis like the present, to do what they 
can to provide a way of escape from the calamities which 
threaten us — not to say are already upon us — respectfully re- 
quest you to meet a number of other gentlemen, to whom 
this circular will be sent, at the ofifice of Richard Lathers, 33 
Pine Street, on Saturday, the 15th inst., at 12 o'clock, for con- 
sultation and mutual counsel with a view to the adoption of 
such measures, if any can be devised, as will tend to heal the 
present dissensions, and restore our once happy country to 
peaceful and harmonious relations. 

" Very respectfully, 
■' Watts Sherman, William B. Astor, 

" John A. Dix, James T. Brady, 

" Eeastus Brooks, Augustus Schell, 

" C. CoMSTOCK, of Albany, Stewart Brown, 

" Gustavus W. Smith, Ger.\rd Hallock, 

" Edwin Crosswell, Geo. E. Baldwin, 

" Wilson G. Hunt, James W. Beekman, 

" James T. Soutter, Richard Lathers, 

" Washington Hunt, of Lockport." 

This meeting was not intended to be a popular one, but 
was to be limited to a conference of prominent public men. 



92 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

regardless of their political affiliations, " for consultation and 
mutual counsel." The large number of cordial and prompt 
acceptances and the interest displayed by the press and by 
leading citizens satisfied the committee, however, that the 
office designated would not be large enough to accommodate 
those who would attend, so they rented a couple of new stores 
on the opposite side of the street, connecting them by an arch- 
way in the partition wall. 

I had the privilege of calling this meeting to order. Charles 
O'Conor, the recognized leader of the New York bar at this 
time, was elected chairman, and James F. Cox, William B. 
B. Clerke, and Oliver G. Carter secretaries. 

Mr. O'Conor, on taking the chair, spoke as follows : 

" I sincerely regret that it was not your pleasure to select 
some other gentleman as chairman of this meeting. In these 
times, it is more important that we should exhibit to the public 
mind accessions to our ranks — to that class of our people who 
have given no cause for excitement, and who have done noth- 
ing to sunder the ties of afifection by which the people of these 
United States were once held together. I should rather, much 
rather, that this meeting could be presided over by some gen- 
tleman, remarkable, if you please, for not having hitherto mani- 
fested much interest in this question, or remarkable, like 
Senator Dixon of Connecticut, who a day or two since, stepping 
forth from the ranks of the so-called Republican party, and 
placing himself before this country as a true-hearted Ameri- 
can, devoted to conciliation, to harmony, to holding us together, 
to perpetuating our interests and our Union, proclaimed in the 
Senate of the United States the doctrine of peace, and made 
a manly effort in his high place — who, separating himself, as 
I say, from those who were at least suspected, and with whom 
he had been associated, made an effort worthy of the occasion 
and likely to be beneficial in its influence. I have no other 
objection to appear here, save that my appearance does not 
indicate the presence of a new champion for Union, a new vin- 
dicator of concord, a new foe to causes of irritation and dis- 



EFFORTS TO SAVE THE UNION 93 

sension, but is a mere indication — permit me to say it — that 
those who have been always faithful are faithful still. 

" From these personal remarks I pass to a brief considera- 
tion of the question that has brought us together. Gentlemen, 
in a position of entire seclusion from political interests and 
public affairs, I have had occasion, not for a week, a month, 
or a single year, but for a number of years, to study with atten- 
tion the grave question now presented to us by the action of 
political parties ; and I have seen, as I conceive, during a period 
of some years' duration, a tendency in political action that, in 
my judgment, necessarily led, as an unavoidable consequence, 
to a dissolution of this Union. Political parties should never 
be divided upon moral questions, as they are called. In the 
phrase ' moral ' I include the whole circle of religious opinion. 
And political parties can never be beneficially formed in a free 
State, founded upon the odium and detestation in which 
one party is required to hold the life, walk, conversation, and 
morals, or the religious opinions of another. It hence follows 
that when politicians seeking for some issue upon which to 
divide the community, selected as their point, as their banner, 
' Odium against Negro Slavery,' they selected an issue which 
necessarily led sooner or later to a dissolution of the Union. 
It was — and no truer phrase could have been uttered ; I 
find no fault with the expression — it was necessarily an ' irre- 
pressible conflict,' in which one party or the other must be ab- 
solutely subdued, so that it could no longer sustain, in any 
degree, the contest with the other. I do not think it was an 
' irrepressible conflict ' in any of the senses in which the term 
has been used, or in the way in which it was understood by 
those who uttered it ; but it was necessarily an irrepressible 
conflict. I cannot imagine it to be possible that two distinct 
nations — and each of these States is, for certain political pur- 
poses, and for all the purposes of this question, a distinct na- 
tion — that two distinct nations can live together in one civil 
government, each entertaining an utter detestation of the life 
and morals of the other. And permit me to say in this con- 
nection that when I speak of nations I am to be understood 



94 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

as referring to the effective political majority. The effective 
political majority of a State in this Union speaks the voice of 
the State. They are the nation ; the minority are a nullity ; 
they have no voice or power. It hence follows that when an 
utter detestation of the life and morals of the people of Caro- 
lina has become the basis of a political party in New York, 
and that political party acquires an ascendency in the political 
affairs of the government, these two States cannot live together, 
except in the relation of oppressor and oppressed. The more 
powerful will trample on the weaker. It may trample on the 
weaker according to some written constitution, so that there 
will be no direct violation of its letter. It may trample upon 
it in a way justifiable by some course of argument as conform- 
able to law, but it will trample upon the weaker after all. A 
political Union of distinct organized communities thus opposed 
in moral sentiment, can only be upheld by force. In such an 
Union, there can be no relation between the hater and the de- 
tested, except the relation of oppressor and oppressed. It is 
vain to say, ' We will give you equal laws.' It is vain to say, 
' Congress can pass no laws to injure the Southern States.' 
It is not by legislation that the oppression will be effected. It 
is by the unseen but potent influence of the executive depart- 
ment. That influence guides the action of the government and 
must lead to oppression of the Southern people if it is per- 
mitted to pass into the hands of those who hate them for the 
love of God. Therefore, gentlemen, whilst I deplore seces- 
sion as much as any man who breathes, whilst I deplore se- 
cession as fraught with the greatest evils, I have looked upon 
it is an inevitable event whenever those who detest the life and 
conversation of the Southern people acquire political control 
over the central government at Washington. Not as a thing 
that must happen on the instant, but which must pretty soon 
follow. It is the natural, the necessary, the inevitable conse- 
quence; and although I may dislike particular individuals at 
the South, and believe that they are influenced by evil motives, 
and take advantage of the present state of things for the pur- 
pose of advancing private ends and aims, I cannot find fault 



EFFORTS TO SAVE THE UNION 95 

with the South as a unit. I look upon the South as a unit, 
and upon the North as a unit. I do not take account of the 
men at the South who are influenced by bad motives. I do not 
take account of the men at the North who are influenced by- 
bad motives. I look upon the South as an unit, that is the 
effective majority which represents the feelings and interests 
of the South, and I look upon the North as it is represented 
by that effective majority which speaks the voice of the North. 
And, looking at them in this way, I see that if the South can- 
not otherwise protect itself against the aggressive spirit of the 
North, there is an imperious necessity for this act of secession. 
"Is the secession to come? Desponding men seem to fear 
it. Some bad men undoubtedly desire it. The South is full, 
I am sure, of men who are anxious to prevent it. I am sure 
that there are numerous well-known secession leaders who lead 
for the purpose of leading aright, intending, if they can, that 
the multitude who follow through the wilderness of doubt and 
dismay, may at last be led back into the promised land of 
Union and fraternity. I deem utterly unworthy the observa- 
tion that the South has offended. As a unit it has not offended. 
As a unit it has only struggled to sustain itself against the 
rapidly accumulating majority of those who held its vital in- 
terests in such odium, that the destruction of those interests 
was a necessary consequence of their accession to power. 
Therefore, I say that there is no fault in the South, as a whole, 
and it has nothing to atone for. Let us look, then, to the 
North : and I ask, what are we to say of ourselves? I am my- 
self a native of the North. My ancestors came from a country 
ten degrees nearer the pole than the country in which I live. 
I am a child of the North in every sense. I have scarcely a 
friend, I have no correspondents, and I have no interests, 
political or otherwise, in the South ; and God gave me a 
physical constitution that would not permit me to live two 
degrees further South than the State in which I am placed. 
So I can have no personal interests, can be suspected of no 
personal interests, or ought not at least in common justice to 
be suspected of personal views, when I say that the South, 



96 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

speaking of it as a unit, as one portion of this country, has 
not offended, and has only struggled to keep its head above 
the rapidly advancing waters of this black sea which has so 
long threatened to overwhelm it. So much as to the South. 
Now, as to the North: Gentlemen, do I stand here to revile 
it? Not at all. All my pride, all my affections, all my inter- 
ests are here. My birth was in the North, and my grave shall 
be in the North. Let no man suspect me of infidelity to the 
North, or of going, cap in hand, seeking for favor of any 
description from the South. I demand nothing, and we demand 
nothing from it. But let me say, as to the North, that I have 
no fear of the dishonest Northern politicians. There are dis- 
honest politicians everywhere. I have no fear of those who 
are denominated the leaders at the North. There is no source 
of evil whatever in the North, except the honest, conscientious 
mistake of the honest, conscientious people of the North, who 
have drunk in this dreadful error that it is their duty, before 
God and man, to crush out and to trample upon the system 
of industn,' upon which the prosperity of the South and the 
permanency of this Union in its present form depend. There 
are no enemies to this Union whose action is to be feared, ex- 
cept the honest, virtuous, conscientious people of the North. 
Let us draw away that support from the designing political 
factionists, and upon the instant this disturbing, mischievous 
controversy ends, our Union renews its youth, and appears 
before us as an institution designed to perpetuity and to bless 
untold millions for untold ages. 

" Now, gentlemen, where is our hope? Why, it is in having 
a little space of time to look about us here at the North — in 
having a little time to correct our errors and to withdraw 
political power from those who would use it destructively. 
There is no other means ; there is no other remedy. The 
question is this: Can we obtain a little time? Can we induce 
the South to believe in our continued fidelity, to believe in the 
practicability of accomplishing our hopes, that harmony may 
thus be restored, and such a state of things created, by means 
of proper guarantees, as will render the South safe within the 



EFFORTS TO SAVE THE UNION 97 

Union? That is the question. Undoubtedly a voice coming 
from the city of New York will be recognized as the voice of 
a friend, for here there was not only an efifective majority, 
but a mighty majority in favor of doing entire justice to the 
South, and of keeping out of power this dangerous party, 
whose first advent to power — the very name of its advent to 
power — has shaken our Republic to its foundations. Can we 
obtain a little time? I understand the proposition is that this 
city shall appeal to the South for time; induce the South, if 
possible, to stay its hand, and be patient for a time. This, 
certainly, I think we ought to do. There are a great many 
safeguards for public liberty in our Constitution. There are 
a great many safeguards for the rights of oppressed States 
and endangered interests in our Constitution, and a resort to 
some one of these, if our people and our representatives in 
Congress would earnestly unite, might give to our friends at 
the South assurances that political power cannot and will not 
be wielded, even by the Executive, or through executive pat- 
ronage, to their destruction. 

" And, gentlemen, can we afford them guarantees? I think 
we can. In the first place, we have nothing to fear, in my 
judgment, except from honest men, as I have said before, who 
have been misled and deceived — who have been misled and 
deceived, in a very great degree, not by politicians, but by 
persons in other walks of life — b y moral l ecturers and by min- 
istersofthe_Gospel, who have entertained — very excusably, I 
am willing to say — mistaken views upon this subject, taken 
up, perhaps, under the influence of excitement, from very im- 
proper conduct occasionally manifested on the part of Southern 
men in and out of Congress. There are signs of improvement 
in this quarter. In the still recent canvass between Fremont 
and Buchanan, when this identical question was before the 
people, it was said in the newspapers, I doubt not with sub- 
stantial truth, that three thousand pulpits were pouring out 
their thunders against slavery, and calling upon the people, 
in the name of the God whom they worshiped, to give their 
utmost efforts to the accomplishment of the object then in 



98 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

view — the election of an anti-slavery Executive. Gentlemen, 
you will not certainly have failed to observe that during the 
canvass which we have just passed through, the pulpit was 
almost silent upon the subject. The persons who spoke from 
the pulpit were so few in number that they have attained a 
most unenviable notoriety, and will probably be remembered 
for a century at least for the distinctive position in which they 
placed themselves, whilst the pulpit generally was, as it should 
generally be upon such subjects, silent. Now, that was a great 
improvement. It showed that a disposition to reconsider the 
subject had entered the minds of good men at the North. It 
showed that those who were excited by improper acts, by acts 
of violence, and violent speeches, to a feeling of hostility to 
the South, had begun to consider their duty — had begun the 
study of the volume from which they were bound to take 
their doctrines, and had begun to learn that it was by no means 
so clear that every slaveholder should be punished in this world 
and be necessarily consigned to perdition in the next. I say 
the pulpit was silent. And the pulpit has now improved upon 
that silence. I trust a million have already read, and millions 
more will read, throughout the North, the sermon of the Rev. 
Mr. Van Dyke, delivered on Sunday last, where, most wisely — 
from the attitude in which he stood, in all respects most justly 
and unexceptionably ignoring all mere worldly philosophy, 
ignoring all domination of men or parties, in Church, in State, 
in politics or elsewhere, and placing himself upon that which 
is the single guide to faith and doctrine in the judgment and 
fixed opinions of that great sect which he represents — the 
dominant sect throughout all the North — placing himself upon 
the Holy Scriptures of Almighty God, he showed that the 
people of the South, if they but perform their duties in their 
stations as well as we at the North in ours, lead lives as 
virtuous and conformable to the precepts of Almighty God, 
and of earthly morality, as the best men at the North. 

"First, then, gentlemen, we have shown what? We have 
shown that an influential body which once made itself active 
to a dangerous end (I grant from pure motives), first paused. 



EFFORTS TO SAVE THE UNION 99 

and then changed its tone on full consideration. And I ask 
vou, is there not hope that we shall live to learn throughout 
these Northern States that our duty is to correct our own per- 
sonal vices, to reform our own minds and our own morals — 
to be ourselves good and kind Christians, loving and affec- 
tionate fellow-citizens? And if we needs must take cogni- 
zance of the faults and errors of other nations, and send the 
firebrand of incendiary documents where we can find no mis- 
sionary daring enough to go, let us select the heathen in far- 
distant lands, and not undertake to denounce as heathens and 
sinners our own estimable fellow-citizens. This circumstance 
presents grounds for hope. It shows that there is a tendency 
in the Northern mind to correct itself, to reconsider its judg- 
ment, and to act more kindly and more charitably towards the 
people of the South. 

" Well, gentlemen, there is a power at Washington that can 
save the people of the South, if it can but firmly unite and re- 
solve to protect the South. I mean the Senate of the United 
States, where the South has a strong voice, and where many 
from the North are ready to sustain and support her. And as 
to the more distant future, as respects guaranties and final 
protection to the South, why let us, in God's name, if no other 
remedy can be had, sit down in a national convention and add 
one section to our Constitution. I would not alter one word 
of it. I am against altering the Constitutions, either of the 
Union or of the States, that were adopted in times that tried 
men's souls — in times when the fathers of this Republic, under 
the guidance of Almighty Providence, were laying the founda- 
tions of the first great free State that ever existed. I believe 
that Divine Wisdom presided over those events and the judg- 
ments that were formed in framing fundamental laws at the 
close of the contest. I believe that every step wherein we have 
departed from the fundamental laws of that day was a mis- 
take, and that if there be any errors existing at this time in 
our practice, political or otherwise, the efficient cure for them 
is to go back to the platform upon which the fathers stood, — 
to return to the glorious rules and principles framed for their 



loo REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

posterity by those who founded the Republic. Therefore, gen- 
tlemen, I would not have a new constitution, and obliterate 
that great instrument, sanctioned by the name of George Wash- 
ington. I would not say to the present generation or to pos- 
terity that we could improve it by altering one single word or 
provision of it. I would, however, be willing to add — for we 
have commentators on the most sacred things — I would be 
willing to add a provision for the purpose of removing dis- 
putes, by way of carrying out and more completely and exactly 
executing the things that are in it. We are told by the highest 
authority — by that which we, I trust, all revere — the Supreme 
Court of the United States — that the Declaration of Independ- 
ence and the Constitution of the United States were made by 
and for the free white Caucasian race inhabiting these United 
States. And I would add a provision to the Constitution em- 
bracing — for the purpose of convincing those who otherwise 
will not see — that principle ; and that would guarantee com- 
plete protection to the people of the South. I will not say 
precisely in what form it should be added. I will not say it, 
not because I have not duly and fully reflected on it, and am 
not prepared to say it, but because it may as well be left for 
greater men than I to have the honor of putting it in form, 
and suggesting the way in which it should be adopted. Now. 
gentlemen, there is no inhumanity, there is no selfishness, there 
is nothing that men can find fault with in laying down the 
rule that America was made for a free white Caucasian race 
and its development. We but follow the judgment of Almighty 
God when we say, ' America for the white Caucasian, Africa for 
the negro who was born in it, who is adapted to its climate, 
and there, in a physical sense, at least, can best flourish.' Why, 
if we establish the principle that this is a free white republic, 
and not a home for the free black man, and if the black man 
has in his nature and constitution a capacity of being elevated to 
power, and of being civilized and Christianized, what a mighty 
empire of free, enlightened, independent, powerful men you 
will have in Africa within a century or two! If they are fit 
for freedom, if they can enjoy and sustain self-government. 



EFFORTS TO SAVE THE UNION loi 

that is the way in which benevolence, which turns away from 
the white man and aims at elevating the black man, can have 
its full gratification. If the black men of the South are one 
day to attain their liberty, it will be when hundreds of millions 
of enlightened, Christian, civilized black men, in the full en- 
joyment of liberty, shall people the plains and hills of Africa — 
when that continent shall have its civilization, its commerce, 
its armies and its navies — then, indeed, the Southern States 
of this Union would be obliged to sustain an unequal conflict, 
or deliver up to the freedom of his native region every black 
slave within their borders. And thus, if indeed, as these fanat- 
ics seem to think, it be within the scheme of Almighty Provi- 
dence, to elevate the black race, that race will be elevated bv 
its own instrumentality, and in a climate most congenial to 
its constitution, mental and physical. 

" Gentlemen, I have already kept you too long. This, to 
be sure, is a great subject, and I always feel, when I speak 
upon it, that I must either say altogether too little, or weary 
the patience of those who may be obliged through courtesy to 
listen. I have done. We have met to re-assure our Southern 
friends. We have met to present to them, in the strongest 
form in our power, the assurance of our continued action in 
their favor, and to concert such measures as may lead to stay- 
ing the progress of their justifiable discontent. I insist upon 
calling it so. To stay the affirmative, final action of that justi- 
fiable discontent until we shall have had an opportunity to 
change the existing state of things, and relieve the South from 
the present position of affairs. The party which believes it a 
duty to suppress and crush out slavery, may be held out from 
the possession of political power over the central government. 
We may not be able to control that party in particular States, 
but within a very short period I sincerely believe we shall be 
able to hurl that party from power at Washington, and by 
united action we may prevent it from working mischief in the 
interval." 

Letters were read from a number of prominent sympathizers 



102 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

with the object of the meeting who were unable to be present, 
and addresses were made by Hon. John A. Dix, Hon. John 
McKeon, Hon. Daniel S. Dickinson, and Hiram Ketchum. A 
committee of twenty-four, consisting of John A. Dix, George 
E. Baldwin, Gerard Hallock, Edwin Crosswell, Stephen P. 
Russell, James W. Beekman, Watts Sherman, John H. Brower, 
Elias S. Higgins, Algernon S. Jarvis, Royal Phelps, Thomas W. 
Ludlow, Wilson G. Hunt, Gustavus W. Smith, John M. Bar- 
bour, Thomas W. Gierke, James T. Soutter, Samuel J. Tilden, 
Benjamin Nott, John L. O'Sullivan, John McKeon, Wm. H. 
Aspinwall, Charles A. Davis, and Stewart Brown, was ap- 
pointed by the Chair to draft resolutions and a proper address 
to the South in sympathy with their rights in the Union but 
opposed to secession in any form. At the close of Mr. Ket- 
chum's address this committee reported through its chair- 
man, General Dix, the following Address and Resolutions, 
which, after consideration, were adopted unanimously : 

" ADDRESS. 

" Fellow Citizens and Brethren of the South, 

" It has become our painful duty to address ourselves to you 
under the most alarming circumstances in which we have been 
placed since the formation of the government. In the fullness 
of our prosperity, our strength, and our credit, the Union, to 
which we owe it all, is in imminent danger of becoming a 
prey to internal dissension, sacrificing the great interests of 
the country, and forfeiting the high position it holds among the 
nations of the earth. To avert a calamity so disgraceful to 
us as a free people, so disastrous to the common welfare, and 
so disheartening to the friends of representative government 
in both hemispheres, we appeal to you by the sacred memory 
of that fraternal friendship which bound our forefathers to- 
gether through the perils of the Revolution, which has united 
us all through succeeding years of alternate good and ill, and 
which has conducted us, under the protection of the Sovereign 
Ruler of the L^niverse, to wealth and power by a progress 



EFFORTS TO SAVE THE UNION 103 

unexampled in the history of the past — by all the endearing 
recollections with which this association is hallowed, we con- 
jure you to pause before the current of disunion shall acquire 
a force which may prove irresistible, that we may consult to- 
gether, with the calmness due to the magnitude of the crisis, 
for the removal of the causes which have produced it. We 
make this appeal to you in entire confidence that it will not be 
repulsed. We have stood by you in the political contest through 
which we have just passed. We have asserted your rights as 
earnestly as though they had been our own. You cannot re- 
fuse, therefore, to listen to us, and to weigh with becoming 
deliberation the reasons we have for believing that the wrongs, 
which have led to the existing alienation betweeen the two 
great sections of the country, may, with your co-operation, be 
speedily redressed. We do not intend to go back to the origin 
of these wrongs. We will not review the dark history of the 
aggression and insult heaped upon you by abolitionists and 
their abettors during the last thirty-five years. Our detesta- 
tion of these acts of hostility is not inferior to your own. We 
take things as they exist, to deal with them as an evil, not 
to be eradicated by violence, but to be remedied by a treatment 
which shall at the same time be considerate and firm. We call 
on you as friends to delay action until we can induce those, 
through whose agency the evil has been brought upon us, 
to listen to the voices of reason and duty, and to place your 
relations and ours to the common privileges and benefits of 
th.e Union on a footing of perfect equality ; or, failing in 
this, until we can bring the majority of our fellow-citizens in 
the North to co-operate with us, as we do not doubt they will, 
in the proper measures of redress. We do not despair of secur- 
ing from those, to whose hands the reins of government are 
about to be entrusted, a recognition of your rights in regard 
to the surrender of fugitive slaves and equality in the Terri- 
tories. We know that great changes of opinion have already 
taken place among their most intelligent and influential men — 
that a reaction has commenced, which is not likely to be stayed 
- — that errors and prejudices which in the heat of the canvass 



I04 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

were inaccessible to reason and persuasion, have been, on cool 
reflection, renounced ; nay, more, that many, whose opinions 
have undergone no change, are willing, in a praiseworthy spirit 
of patriotism, to make on questions, which are not fundamental 
in our system of government, but merely accessory to our social 
condition, the concessions necessary to preserve the Union in 
its integrity, and to save us from the fatal alternative of dis- 
memberment into two or more empires, jealous of each other, 
and embittered by the remembrance of differences, which we 
had not the justice or the magnanimity to compose. 

" Let us enumerate briefly the grounds on which we repose 
our trust in a speedy accommodation of the existing disagree- 
ment between the North and the South. 

" I. The late election. Although it was adverse to us 
throughout the North, we have in the detail added materially 
to our strength in Congress, where the power to redress wrong 
and prevent abuse is most needed. In this State, against five 
Democratic and Union members of the present Congress, eleven 
members have been elected for the next ; and in the other North- 
ern States five members more have been gained, making a 
change of twenty-two votes in the House of Representatives, 
giving a decided majority in that body to the friends of the 
Union and the equal rights of the South, rendering all hostile 
legislation impossible, and affording assurance that existing 
wrong will be redressed. 

" In regard to the general result of the election, we do not 
hesitate to say, that the conservative men of the North have 
been defeated by their own divisions, rather than by the votes 
of their opponents, and that it is not a true criterion of the 
relative strength of parties. The slavery question was but an 
element in the contest ; it would have proved utterly inade- 
quate to the result had not the Democratic party been dis- 
organized by its own dissensions. Even in the City of New 
York, with an overwhelming majority, one of the most con- 
servative Congress districts was lost by running two candidates 
against a single Republican. 

" In the Congress districts carried by the anti-Republicans, 



EFFORTS TO SAVE THE UNION 105 

the canvass was placed distinctly on the ground of sustaining 
the equal rights of the States in the Territories. In the month 
of May last an address was published in the City of New York, 
reviewing the controversy between the two great sections of 
the country in regard to the territorial question, and assuming 
as a basis of settlement the following grounds : 

" ' I. A citizen of any State in the Union may emigrate to 
the Territories with his property, whether it consists of slaves 
or any other subject of personal ownership. 

" ' 2. So long as the territorial condition exists, the relation 
of master and slave is not to be disturbed by federal or local 
legislation. 

" ' 3. Whenever a Territory shall be entitled to admission 
into the Union as a State, the inhabitants may, in framing their 
constitution, decide for themselves whether it shall authorize 
or exclude slavery.' 

" We stand on these grounds now. We believe the contro- 
versy can be adjusted on no other. Many who sustained in 
the late canvass a candidate, who did not assent to them, dis- 
agreed with him in opinion. We speak particularly of the City 
of New York ; and we say with confidence that we believe the 
great conservative party of the North may be rallied success- 
fully on the foregoing propositions as a basis of adjustment. 
In carrying them out we shall re-establish the practice of the 
government from its organization to the year 1820, running 
through the successive administrations of Washington, the elder 
Adams, Jefferson, and Madison. The territory northwest of 
the Ohio River, in which slavery was prohibited by an ordi- 
nance adopted under the Articles of Confederation, was an ex- 
ceptional case. In the other Territories emigrants from the 
States were freely admitted with slaves when composing a 
part of their families. The adoption of the Missouri Compro- 
mise under the administration of Mr. Monroe, was the first 
departure from the practice of the government under the 
Constitution. We must go back to the policy of the founders 
of the Republic if we hope to preserve the Union. We believe 
this great object can be accomplished, and that harmony may 



io6 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

be restored to the country, if time for action be given to those 
who have its destinies in their hands. 

" II. The Republican party. It cannot possibly remain un- 
broken during the term of the incoming administration. The 
two chief elements — the political and religious — can never 
harmonize in practice. The process of separation has already 
commenced. While those who ostensibly represent the re- 
ligious element are as fierce as ever in their denunciations, 
leading politicians, no doubt in view of the responsibility to 
devolve on the President-elect in carrying on the government, 
have renounced ultra opinions, and proclaimed the duty of 
enforcing an efficient fugitive slave law. In Boston the Union 
party triumphed by a majority of several thousand votes in the 
late municipal election, and the Abolitionists have been ex- 
pelled by the people from the public halls, in which they at- 
tempted to hold their disorganizing assemblies. In other cities 
of New England the same reaction has taken place. The 
theorists and the politicians can never hold together when 
measures of government are to be agreed on ; and it is not 
believed that the Republican party can sustain itself for a 
single year on the basis of the principles on which it was 
organized. 

" It is a mistake to imagine that the whole Republican party, 
or even the great bulk of it, is really at heart, animated by any 
spirit hostile to the rights or menacing to the interests of the 
South. Anti-slaveryism has constituted but one of various 
political elements combined in that ' Republicanism ' which 
has elected Mr. Lincoln. We pledge ourselves to you. that 
whenever a fair opportunity shall be presented of a distinct 
and simple vote of the North upon the full recognition of all 
your constitutional rights, a very large majority in nearly 
every Northern State will be found true to the Constitution, 
and true to the fraternal relations established by it between 
you and us. 

" III. The fugitive slave law. Eight or nine States have 
passed laws calculated, if not designed, to embarrass the sur- 
render of fugitive slaves. Wrong as these enactments are in 



EFFORTS TO SAVE THE UNION 107 

principle and in purpose, they have been practically nugatory. 
We believe no fugitive from service or labor has been dis- 
charged under any one of them. They are, nevertheless, utterly 
indefensible as the index of unfriendly feeling ; they have 
wrought, in practice, the further injury of furnishing an ex- 
ample of infidelity to Constitutional obligations — an injury to 
us as well as to you ; and no one doubts that they will, when 
brought before the judicial tribunals of the country, be pro- 
nounced violations or evasions of a duty enjoined by the Con- 
stitution, and therefore void. 

" A movement has already been made in Vermont (the most 
hopeless of the Republican States) to repeal her personal 
liberty bill, and the question, as we understand it, is yet un- 
decided in the hands of a committee. Massachusetts, it is 
believed, will repeal hers at the approaching session of her 
legislature. Nor is it doubted that Mr. Lincoln, who has pub- 
licly declared that the fugitive slave law must be faithfully 
executed, will exert his influence to procure the abrogation of 
all conflicting enactments by the States. That it is the duty 
of the States to repeal them, without waiting for the Courts 
to pronounce them invalid, no man, who justly appreciates the 
existing danger, will deny. 

" IV. The conservative men of the North. Since the adop- 
tion of the compromise measures of 1850, we have firmly main- 
tained your rights under them. Previous differences of opinion 
were cheerfully renounced. The contest with the ultraism of 
the Republican party, active and strong as it is, has not been 
unaccompanied by personal sacrifices on our part. They have 
been encountered unhesitatingly, and without regard to politi- 
cal consequences to ourselves. We felt that we had a stake in 
the issue not less important than you. Believing the Union 
essential to the prosperity and honor of the country ; holding 
that its dissolution would not only overwhelm us with calamity 
and disgrace, but that it would give a fatal shock to the cause 
of free government throughout the world, we have sought by 
all practicable means to maintain it by carrying out with scru- 
pulous fidelity the compromises of the Constitution. Though 



io8 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

beaten at the late election, it is our sincere belief that we are 
stronger on this question now than we have been at any pre- 
vious time. We believe we are nearer a solution satisfactory 
to you than we ever have been. We regard it as certain to be 
accomplished, unless it is defeated by precipitate action on 
your part. 

" These are a few of the grounds on which we rely for an 
adjustment of existing differences. There are others which 
we deem it needless at this juncture to press on you. But 
we should leave the view we take of the question unfinished, 
if we were not to add, that any violation of your constitutional 
rights by the incoming administration, if it were attempted, 
would meet with as prompt and as determined a resistance here 
as it would from yourselves. We desire it to be distinctly 
understood that we speak with full knowledge of the import 
of our words ; and that we pledge ourselves to such a resistance 
by all the means which may be necessary to make it effective. 
But we are satisfied no such danger is to be feared. It cannot, 
in the nature of things, be an ultra administration. No party 
in power, under our system of government, can fail to be con- 
servative, no matter on what declarations the canvass may have 
been conducted by its leading supporters. There is an under 
current of moderation in the flow of popular opinion, which 
will inevitably withhold those, to whom the great interests of 
the country are only temporarily confided, from running rashly 
into extremes. 

" Let us then, fellow-citizens and brethren, again appeal to 
you to abstain from any movement which shall have for its 
object a dissolution of the political bonds, which have so long, 
and so happily for us all, united us to each other. They have 
given us honor, wealth, and power. If occasional differences 
have disturbed the general harmony, they have been speedily 
adjusted with fresh accessions of benefit to the common wel- 
fare. No nation has had so uninterrupted a career of pros- 
perity. To what are we to attribute it but to the well-adjusted 
organization of our political system to its several parts? We 
do not call on you to aid us in upholding it on these considera- 



EFFORTS TO SAVE THE UNION 109 

tions alone. There are others of a more personal nature — 
not addressing themselves to you as communities of men merely, 
but as individuals like ourselves, bound to us by ties of recip- 
rocal obligation, which we call on you in all candor to respect. 
We should not make this appeal to you on an occasion of less 
magnitude. But when the very foundations of society are 
in danger of being broken up, involving the peace of families, 
the interests of communities, and the lasting welfare and repu- 
tation of the whole confederacy of States, no feeling of deli- 
cacy should dissuade us from speaking freely and without 
concealment. We call on you, then, as brethren and friends, 
to stand by us as we have stood by you. 

" During the angry contentions of the last nine years, we 
have been the open and unshrinking vindicators of your rights. 
It is in fighting with you the battle for the Constitution that 
we have by an unfortunate combination of causes been over- 
thrown — not finally and hopelessly (far from it) — but tempo- 
rarily only, and with a remaining strength, which needs only 
to be concentrated to give us the victory in future conflicts. 
Is it magnanimous — nay, is it just — to abandon us when we 
are as eager as ever to renew the contest, on grounds essen- 
tially your own, and leave us to carry it on in utter hopelessness 
for want of your co-operation and aid? We cannot doubt 
the response you will give to this appeal. You cannot fail to 
see that by hastily separating yourselves from us, you will 
deprive us of the co-operation needed to contend successfully 
against the ultraism which surrounds us, and may leave us 
without power in a political organization imbued, by the very 
act of separation, with a rancorous spirit of hostility to you. 
We conjure you then to unite with us to prevent the question 
of disunion from being precipitated by rash counsels and in a 
manner altogether unworthy of our rank among the great na- 
tions of the earth, and of the destinies which await us if we 
are only true to ourselves. 

" If the event shall prove that we have overstated our own 
ability to procure a redress of existing wrongs, or the dis- 
position of others to concede what is due to you, as members 



no REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

of a confederacy, which can only be preserved by equal justice 
to all ; let us, when all the efforts of patriotism shall have 
proved unavailing-, when the painful truth shall have forced 
itself on the conviction that our common brotherhood can be 
no longer maintained in the mutual confidence, in which its 
whole value consists — in a word, when reconciliation shall ]:)e- 
come hopeless, and it shall be manifest (which, may God for- 
bid!) that our future paths must lie wide apart; let us do all 
that becomes reasonable men, to break the force of so great a 
calamity, by parting in peace. Let us remember that we have 
public obligations at home and abroad, which for our good 
name must not be dishonored — that we have great interests 
within and without — on the ocean, in our cities and towns, in 
our widely extended internal improvements, in our fields and at 
our firesides — which must not be inconsiderately and wantonly 
sacrificed. If undervaluing the great boon of our prosperity, 
we can no longer consent to enjoy it in common, let us divide 
what we possess on the one hand, and what we owe on the other, 
and save the Republic — the noblest the world has seen — from 
the horrors of civil war and the degradation of financial dis- 
credit. 

"If, on the other hand (which may God grant!), you shall 
not turn a deaf ear to this appeal — if it shall be seen in the 
sequel that we have correctly appreciated the influences which 
are at work to bring about a reconciliation of existing differ- 
ences, and a redress of existing wrongs ; if mutual confidence 
shall be restored, and the current of our prosperity shall re- 
sume its course, to flow on, as it must, with no future dis- 
sensions to disturb it, and in perpetually increasing volume and 
force ; it will be the most cheering consolation of our lives 
that in contributing to so happy an issue out of the prevailing 
gloom, we have neither misjudged your patriotism, nor the 
willingness of our common countrymen to do you justice." 



EFFORTS TO SAVE THE UNION iii 

"THE RESOLUTIONS. 

" Whereas, The Constitution of the United States was 
designed to secure equal rights and privileges to the people of 
ail the States, which were either parties to its formation or 
which have subsequently thereto become members of the Union ; 
and wliereas. the said instrument contained certain stipulations 
in regard to the surrender of fugitive slaves, under the desig- 
nation of ' persons held to service or labor in one State, under 
the laws thereof, escaping into another,' which stipulations 
were designed to be complied with by the act of Congress 
making provision for such surrender ; and whereas, the agitated 
state of the country, arising out of the differences of opinion 
in regard to these provisions, demands that we should declare 
explicitly our sense of the obligations arising under them ; 
therefore, 

"Resolved, That the delivery of fugitive slaves to their 
masters is an obligation enjoined by the Constitution, in which 
all good citizens are bound to acquiesce ; and that all laws 
passed by the States with a view to embarrass and obstruct 
the execution of the act of Congress making provision therefor, 
are an infraction of that instrument and should be promptly 
repealed. 

" Resolved, That the Territories of the United States are the 
common property of the people thereof ; that they are of right, 
and ought to be, open to the free immigration of citizens of 
all the States, with their families, and with whatever is the 
subject of personal ownership under the laws of the States 
from which they emigrated ; that the relation of master and 
slave cannot, during the territorial condition, be rightfully dis- 
turbed by federal or local legislation ; and that the people of 
any such Territory can only dispose of the question of slavery 
in connection with their own political organization, when they 
form a constitution with a view to their admission into the 
Union as a State. 

"Resolved, That we pledge ourselves to uphold these 
principles by all the means in our power : to seek by all prac- 



112 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

ticable efforts a redress of the wrongs of which the Southern 
States justly complain, and to maintain their equality under 
the Constitution, in the full enjoyment of all the rights and 
privileges it confers. 

" Resolved, That while we deplore the existing excitement in 
the Southern States, we do not hesitate to say that there is 
just ground for it. But we earnestly entreat our Southern 
brethren to abstain from hasty and inconsiderate action, that 
time may be afforded for bringing about a reconciliation of 
existing differences, and that the Union of the States — the 
source of our prosperity and power — may be preserved and 
perpetuated by a restoration of public harmony and mutual 
confidence. 

" Resolved, That Hon. Millard Fillmore, Hon. Bronson 
C. Greene and Richard Lathers, Esq., be appointed a com- 
mittee to proceed to the South, with a view to make such 
explanation to our Southern brethren, in regard to the subjects 
embraced in the Address and Resolutions, as they may deem 
necessary, and to give such further assurances as may be 
needed to manifest our determination to maintain their rights. 

" Resolved, That, in case either of the gentlemen named in 
the foregoing resolution be unable to perform the service for 
which he is appointed, the Committee on the Address and 
Resolutions be authorized to fill the vacancy." 

During the weeks immediately succeeding the Pine Street 
meeting I received many letters of the most discouraging 
character from prominent citizens of the South. The four 
letters I append herewith are fair samples of them all : 

" Charleston, S. C, Jan. ist, 1861. 
" Richard Lathers, Esq., 

" Winyah Park. New Rochelle. 
" My Dear Sir: — I have to thank you for the Journal of 
Commerce containing the proceedings of the New York meet- 
ing of conservative men. I was greatly pleased with your 
speech, and the others made, and especially with the Address. 



EFFORTS TO SAVE THE UNION 113 

I only wish that you and your friends had moved sooner. Some 
good might possibly have been done ; but our State had 
become too far committed to halt in her actions, pressed 
as she was from every quarter to go on. Even such 
men as Mr. Daniel Rudisch, always wedded to the Union, 
considered the State so committed that she could not re- 
tract with honor. Besides, there was no evidence of any 
yielding on the part of the Republican party, and what 
was the South to do? Could she submit to the inaugu- 
ration of a Party in Washington pledged to the ultimate 
overthrow of her institutions? And now coercion is threat- 
ened, because we avail of the only measure left for escape, 
and what makes matters worse all parties in the Northern 
states seem to fall into the ranks of those who demand it. 
Have we no friends among her people ? None to stay the hand 
of war? None who prefer a peaceful separation, rather than 
one of blood? If they succeed in destroying us, will they 
not destroy State sovereignty, the very essence of American 
liberty, and establish in its stead, a central, consolidated des- 
potism, which no State or section can hereafter resist? And 
yet war seems inevitable, for nowhere does there rise up any 
apparently able person to prevent it, and all before us is full 
of sadness and trouble. 

" This is the first day of the new year, and it is melancholy 
that the usual congratulations of the season cannot be extended 
to you ; for who can wish many returns of such a period of 
political strife, of brothers standing face to face and on the 
eve of shedding each other's blood? 

" Recent occurences in this harbor, and in Washington, have 
greatly added to the excitement here and throughout the South, 
complicating matters still further and rendering a collision with 
the government most difficult to be avoided. The only chance 
for the Union now is to let the Cotton States go peaceably, and 
to commence an early negotiation for a new Union. It might 
succeed ; for Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina would 
aid this measure, while portions of Georgia, Alabama and 
Mississippi would be favorable to it. On the other hand, co- 



114 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

ercion will drive them off forever, and along with them Ken- 
tucky and Tennessee. I fear, however, that all is too late and 
that nothing now but a miracle can arrest the onward course 
towards destruction and war. I notice this morning that the 
Bank of Commerce has taken the balance of the Government 
loan of two millions. The rate is a high one, twelve per cent., 
but still it disappoints me to find New York capitalists aiding 
the government at this time under even the most tempting 
offers of profits. How will the New York Governor and the 
legislature receive the proposition that the State of New York 

should raise troops to sustain the government ? 

" Yours very truly, 

" H. GOURDIN." 

"Tallahassee, Fla., Jan. 5th, 1861. 
" Col. Richard Lathers, 

" Winyah Park, New Rochelle. 

" My Dear Sir: — I was unable to write you on my way home. 
having hurried through as fast as railroads could bring me. 
I reached here on the 3rd inst. having intercepted a large num- 
ber of delegates to our Convention, some thirteen miles above 
here. The Convention convened that day, organized tempo- 
rarily, and in consideration of yesterday's being the National 
Fast, adjourned over till to-day. So you see we consider 
ourselves yet one of the United States and have respect to the 
authority of the present administration. The complexion of 
our convention is decidedly colored. A small majority favor 
immediate secession and it is now more than likely that on Mon- 
day the 7th inst., Florida will become a separate Republic. 
The returns from Georgia thus far indicate that the State 
has gone secession largely. If this is confirmed, there will be 
no longer a shadow of doubt as to the action of the Cotton 
States. 

" Throughout Virginia and North Carolina the secession 
spirit is gathering strength daily. This I get from leading 
gentlemen of both States. The truth is, the spirit of determined 
resistance to Black Republican rule is widespread and nothing 



EFFORTS TO SAVE THE UNION 115 

can stay the march of the present revolution but a complete 
breaking down of the Republicans on the Territorial question, 
and this I conceive to be beyond hope. My impression, then, 
gathered from every quarter through which I have passed, is 
that the Cotton States will secede separately and immediately ; 
to be followed in a very short period by the border States and 
thus will result a Southern Confederacy. 

" I will write you more at length as leisure gives me oppor- 
tunity. 

" With grateful recollection of your courtesy and attentions, 
" I am, very truly yours, 

" Hugh Archer.'" 

"Tallahassee, Jan. 22nd, 1861. 
" Col. Richard Lathers, New York. 

" My Dear Colonel: — Your esteemed favor is just received, 
and I regret to see that you are less hopeful as events pro- 
gress. I feel much more hopeful to-day than I did two weeks 
since. I read Mr. Seward's speech last night and I must say 
I gathered some consolation therefrom. He evidently ignores 
the irrepressible. As an ultimatum it won't do at all ; but J 
regard this speech as an entering wedge. Tell your people to 
press conciliation. It is useless to talk of whipping in the 
South. It can't be done. We are much better prepared for 
fighting than we believe ourselves to be, and the nerve is here. 
Old Waddy Thompson misrepresented the Northern people 
when he said there is no fight in them. We know they will 
fight, but we will be defending our homes in such a fight, and 
so our people regard it. The trouble is they are too anxious. 
We have adopted secession as a remedy, not because we abhor 
the Union with the Constitution. I believe everything will 
come right, and we can reconstruct upon a fair and equitable 
basis. It can't be done though by coercion. The only obstacle 
I see is Old Buck ; he is not equal to the emergency 

" I see your friend Gen. Dix is in the Cabinet. 

" Yours truly, 

" Hugh Archer." 



ii6 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

" Georgetown, S. C, Feb. 3, i86r. 
" Col. R. Lathers, 

" Winyah Park, New Rochelle, N. Y. 

" Dew Lathers: — Accept thanks for the documents you 
have from time to time sent me. I would have acknowledged 
the receipt of them before, but I was away from home per- 
forming in my humble way, the duties of Senator from the good 
old parish which gave me birth and gives me bread. 

" No one in the State came more reluctantly than myself 
to the conclusion, that this Union would, and ought to be 
dissolved. But the conclusion was irresistible. All hope of 
reconstructing it is as vain and futile, as ' was the attempt of 
the builders on the plains of Shinar to connect earth with 
heaven.' It is irrevocably broken up, and neither conciliation 
nor compromise, nor blood nor fire, nor sword can bind it 
together again. The North and South have lost faith and 
confidence in each other. In fact they hate each other with 
a deeper and more bitter hate than Frenchmen ever betrayed 
to Englishmen ; such being the case, harmony and good feeling 
can never be restored between the sections. The spirit of in- 
tolerance, which has always marked the conduct of the Puritan, 
has taken full possession of the Northern mind. The prev- 
alence of that spirit is inconsistent with our rights and in- 
terests, and threatens our very existence if we remain in the 
Union. The Constitution, the paramount law of the land, has 
completely lost its hold upon the affections of the people of 
the North, and so far as protection to the South under it is 
concerned, it is as impotent of power as a blank sheet of paper 
would be. It is idle to talk about amendments to the Consti- 
tution. It is good enough as it is. What avail is the most 
ample provision on parchment for our protection and safety, 
if the spirit of the people is against carrying it into execution? 
On the plea of raising revenue, we have been robbed by plun- 
dering tariflFs. Under the so-called ' right of petition,' we have 
been insulted in the language of the fish-market. On the plea 
of raising a nursery for seamen, our amiable brethren of New 
England receive annually large sums of money from the public 



EFFORTS TO SAVE THE UNION 117 

treasury, for being accommodating enough to catch and eat 
their own codfish ; which sums are piously expended in the 
humane work of steaHng our negroes ! 

" If the denunciation of us and our institutions came alone 
trom poKticians and place men, we might hesitate; but we 
believe and know that the abolition of African slavery in the 
States, is the dominant political faith of the people of the 
North. We are satisfied that it is a religious sentiment, which 
they honestly entertain. The young men and women of the 
North have sucked their sentiment at their mothers' breasts, and 
learned it at their mothers' knees. It is taught at their schools 
and colleges that our system of slavery is a sin so demoralizing 
as to make barbarians of us. The pretended heralds of the 
Cross, Sabbath after Sabbath, desecrate their pulpits by a re- 
cital of the imaginary wrongs and enormities of which the 
slave-holder is held up as the cause, and the slave, the victim ; 
and thousands hang breathless on their words. 

"Under such a state of things how can we live together? 
There can be no more affiliation between the people of the 
North and the South, than there can be between truth and false- 
hood, courage and cowardice. It would be as easy to har- 
monize equality with inferiority, as to live together again with 
this sentiment, active, dominant and aggressive, added to the 
fact that all the energetic tendencies of the incoming adminis- 
tration, will combine to swell the force and consolidate the do- 
minion of Abolition. Where is our safety and what is our 
resource, if we do not go out of this Union, although we might 
be obliged to cut our very way out with the sword? It is 
to-day an almost universal sentiment, from South Carolina to 
the Rio Grande, that any government is preferable to the ' vul- 
gar tyranny ' of the Yankee, whose conscience is never offended 
and whose sensibility is never wounded by any transaction or 
thing which places money in his pocket. Even the horrors of 
the ' Middle Passage ' find with him justification in the lap 
full of gold, which his inhuman traffic fetches, while in hypo- 
critical and deceitful tone he whines over the imaginary 
distresses of the most happy and contented, and best-cared-for 



ii8 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

people on the globe. With such a people we can no longer re- 
main in partnership, and will not. We would be less than men 
and more than cowards, if the apprehension of civil war, with 
all its concomitant tumult, distress, peril and misery arrested 
our course. When I speak of the people of the North, I speak 
of them collectively as communities, and body politics — as 
States. We all know and appreciate the patriotic stand taken 
by the O'Conors and Bradys and yourself, and your immediate 
political friends ; but it cannot close our eyes to the significant 
fact, that the Constitutional men at the North are in a hope- 
less minority, and powerless to stay the course of those who are 
bent on our destruction. It is with us not merely a question 
of policy or expediency, but one of existence, which you must 
look squarely in the face. The stake is life against death, 
and with God's aid we will play a bold game to win. If we 
win, our children will bless our memory ; if we lose, history, 
which seldom judges unjustly and never ungenerously, will 
certainly record that we did not part with our birthright with- 
out a brave effort to keep it. But we have no fear of defeat. 
We are contending for our homes and our firesides, our fam- 
ilies and our altars ; and the encouraging smiles and the sacred 
tears of our wives and our daughters, bid us do our duty 
bravely and well. 

" But why may we not part in peace? It is useless to disguise 
the fact, that we can never again live together in peace. As 
two peoples we may get along; as one, we never can. The per- 
fidious treachery and faithlessness of Mr. Buchanan will prob- 
ably prevent a peaceful solution of our difficulties. Untrue to 
friends and treacherous to foes, and playing coward to both, 
he has earned a degree of infamy which will attach to his 
name forever. Reckless of plighted faith and regardless of 
personal honor, he will live in history only to be despised. His 
whole course has been one of duplicity and cowardice. He 
has deliberately attempted to deceive both sides, and has been 
detected and exposed by both. But enough of him. 

" If it should so happen that civil war is to follow the course 
which our necessities oblige us to pursue, we feel that none of 



EFFORTS TO SAVE THE UNION 119 

its responsibility will attach to us. We have never concerned 
ourselves with the local institutions of the North. We have 
left them to determine their own affairs according to their own 
comforts, and we are determined to manage our affairs ac- 
cording to our own will and pleasure, unmindful of the smiles 
or frowns of the people of the North. 

" With the liveliest remembrance of the pleasant and happy 
times we had together in this good old town, I am, 
" Very truly and faithfully your friend, 

" Benjamin N. Wilson." 



CHAPTER V 

SOUTHERN MISSION 

In spite of the unfavorable tone of the letters received from 
Southerners and the rush of events towards secession, the mis- 
sion to the South arranged for by the Pine Street meeting was 
not abandoned. Mr. Bronson C. Greene and Ex-President 
Fillmore having excused themselves from serving as envoys — 
the latter on the ground of feeble health — the Committee on 
Address and Resolutions requested me to undertake the mis- 
sion alone, and I consented to do so. 

Accordingly, I left New York in February, 1861, for the 
South. At Washington I found the Peace Convention, pre- 
sided over by Ex-President Tyler, in session. This convention, 
made up of delegates from the several States, which was due 
to the initiative of Virginia, was the last organized efifort to 
prevent secession. It was unable to provide a peaceful solu- 
' tion of the difficulties which the leaders in Congress were will- 
ing to adopt ; and yet, — with a few radical exceptions — there 
seemed to be a great desire among the delegates to bring about 
a reconciliation. 

I was particularly well received by Ex-President Tyler and 
Vice-President Breckinridge, who, with other Southern 
leaders, gave me warm letters of introduction to the President 
of the Confederacy and to prominent men in the cities to 
which my mission led me. 

In Richmond I had the pleasure of meeting James Lyons 
and other distinguished Virginians who, while expressing sym- 
pathy with the Address and the purpose of the mission, re- 
garded the " overture," as they called it, as coming too late 
to accomplish its patriotic purpose. I could perceive a strong 
desire to save the Union among the substantial citizens, but 
this Union sentiment was constantly antagonized by secession 

120 



SOUTHERN MISSION I2i 

orators who predicted that the in-coming administration would 
be an AboHtion administration with so much positiveness as 
to alarm the slave holders. 

On reaching Charleston I found the city filled with the 
leading men of the State, who were employed in forming an 
independent government, devising a tariff for revenue, con- 
structing fortifications, and organizing an army. 

My former Major, General Jameson, was Secretary of War 
of the Secession Government, and my former brigadier-gen- 
eral, Harlee (under whose command I had been drilled in 
camp duty as Colonel of the 31st Regiment of South Carolina 
Militia), was Postmaster-General. The former U. S. Minister 
to Russia, General Pickens, had been recently elected Governor 
of the State. My old and valued friend Judge Gordon Magrath, 
who had resigned from the United States District Court, was 
his Secretary of State, and another esteemed friend, Hon. C. 
G. Memminger, his Secretary of the Treasury. These officials 
had always been conservatives and had been known as earnest 
Union men. Unfortunately, their judgment had been over- 
borne by the dangerous Southern dogma of State Sovereignty. 

At a dinner given to me by Governor Pickens, I presented 
to him with appropriate remarks the New York " Address." 
The Governor responded feelingly that the proceedings of the 
New York meeting and its Address were worthy of their 
source, but that this effort at the North to placate the South 
had come too late, he was sorry to say, to save the Union. Yet 
here and elsewhere in the South I could perceive in the midst 
of much bluster for war, hopes that a peaceful settlement would 
be effected by the efforts of the conservatives throughout the 
country. I met the leading citizens in their clubs, counting- 
houses, and banks, as well as in their parlors, and I found that 
there were among them not a few earnest Union men who were 
following the lead of such distinguished Charlestonians as 
Hon. James L. Petigru, Hon. George S. Bryan, Hon. Alfred 
Huger (Postmaster of the city,) E.x-Governor William Aiken 
(the Astor of Charleston and the wealthiest citizen in the 
State), and Col. Donald L. McKay (President of the principal 



122 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

Charleston bank). These gentlemen, Southerners of the high- 
est type, although resenting strongly the Abolitionist en- 
croachments upon Southern rights, opposed secession as a 
remedy worse than the disease, advocating, instead, Calhoun's 
idea of legislative resistance within the Union. Yet such is 
the power of sectional enthusiasm that they were unable to re- 
sist secession effectively — the more that the youths in their 
own families were in many cases among the most zealous se- 
cessionists. 

The Governor and my old friend General Jameson in- 
vited Mrs. Lathers and myself to visit with a party of ladies 
and gentlemen Fort Moultrie, where the young recruits for 
the Confederate army were encamped. 

In passing down the harbor our attention was attracted by 
a singular object resembling in appearance a gigantic packing 
box. It was a flat-bottomed scow (such as is used on the 
Southern rivers for the transportation of cotton), supplied 
with artillery and roofed over with bars of railway iron which 
formed a sort of bomb-proof protection for the artillery in 
action. This floating battery was found to be effective at its 
first trial in the attack on Fort Sumter. It was here, perhaps, 
that the iron-clad craft in this country had its origin. 

When our party reached Fort Moultrie, the ladies took 
their stand to be saluted by a discharge of artillery. Unfortu- 
nately, either the guns were not secure or they were over- 
loaded, for one of them tumbled off the parapet when it was 
fired, greatly to the alarm of the fair friends of the artillery- 
man and greatly to the mortification of General Jameson, who 
had invited us to witness the proficiency of the young recruits. 
The General, after taking us around the fortifications and 
calling our attention to the great progress of the soldiers, 
most of whom were students in the Military Academy and 
young men of distinguished families, asked me, " What have 
you to say? " " It makes me feel sad," I answered, " as I re- 
flect that these young men are too precious to the State to be 
made food for gunpowder in a civil war. They will fight chiefly 
against hired, enlisted foreigners. The rich North can hire 



SOUTHERN MISSION 123 

more foreigners when the Northern ranks are depleted ; but 
by what means can you replace these scions of your best fam- 
ilies? To me, General, this coming war is an unequal hazard. 
You stake the vital institution of the State and your best blood 
against fearful odds. You must recollect that the Yankees 
fought in the Revolution for your firesides as well as for their 
own. It is unsafe to suppose that lapse of time has rendered 
their sons incapable of defending their Union." 

Anent the preparations for the attack on Fort Sumter, the 
celebrated Charleston Sheriff, Sandy Brown, told me a story 
that is worth repeating. President Davis, it seems, had de- 
tailed several experienced military engineers to perfect the bat- 
teries intended for assaulting the Fort. Numerous conferences 
were held as to the possibility of capturing it without loss of 
life on either side ; for even the most pronounced secessionists 
desired to avoid bloodshed. During one of these conferences 
a French military engineer, who claimed to have a well-digested 
plan for taking the Fort without any loss of Confederate 
soldiers, sent in his card. He was invited in and seated at the 
table. After drinking the health of President Davis, he set 
about developing his plan. From a little box he took several 
miniature vessels which he called bateaux. He placed a de- 
canter of Madeira in front of him to represent Fort Sumter, 
and arranged the little vessels in a circular line for the attack. 
He called the attention of his audience to the very high bul- 
warks intended to protect the attacking force and explained 
that they were to be let down when the cannon were fired. He 
then commenced to demonstrate : " Zis bateau sail forward, 
let down ze bulwark and fire ze cannon, bam! ! ! Ze Yonkee 
fall. Zis little bateau come forward, let down ze bulwark, fire 
ze gun, bam ! ! ! and ze Yonkee fall." The Confederate offi- 
cers stood this until the French officer had discharged the 
third cannon, when the Chairman said, " But suppose the Fort 
should fire into your fleet?" "What!" said the astonished 
Frenchman, " Ze fort fire ! ze fort fire ! ! " " Why certainly," 
said the disgusted officer. " Ah, den, ze experiment will fail." 
The French officer had understood from what he had heard 



124 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

that the Yankees were prohibited by the Constitution from mak- 
ing war on a sovereign State. The fact is that the slowness of 
the Government in asserting its power against this perversion 
of the State Rights doctrine in South CaroHna largely en- 
couraged secession in other States. 

At every reception to which Mrs. Lathers and I were invited 
I found exceedingly clever feminine antagonists fully equipped 
with the most ingenious arguments in defense of secession. 
To turn the current of conversation on one occasion I said 

to one of these fair secessionists, " Surely Miss , you 

are not in favor of your fiance going to fight the Yankees on 
the eve of your marriage." She quickly replied, " If he had 
not promptly volunteered for the defense of our State, he never 
could have entered this house; and, indeed, he could not have 
had access to any parlor in the city again. No woman of 
Carolina would for a moment tolerate a coward." 

It may be safely affirmed that the women of the South per- 
fected if they did not originate secession ; for, while I met many 
Union men in Charleston, I did not meet a single Union woman. 
This feminine influence filled the Confederate army with en- 
thusiastic young men and drove even poltroons to take up 
arms. 

Notwithstanding all this revolutionary fervor, the best of 
good feeling towards Northern residents or visitors prevailed 
in Charleston. I was permitted to treat the most burning 
issues night after night in clubs and social gatherings, and 
was replied to with the politeness customary at the South be- 
tween gentlemen. Perhaps the abuse which was being heaped 
upon me at this time by radical journals at the North tended 
to endear me to these people. But, in general, the question 
of secession could be freely and fully discussed in any quarter, 
public or private. Secession was held to be so far above dis- 
pute that Unionist ideas were rather to be pitied than resented. 

One evening, in the parlor of the Mills House, the Captain 
of a United States armed vessel which had brought into port 
a captured slaver, was conversing with a number of prominent 
gentlemen. He was explaining the mode of the capture and 



SOUTHERN MISSION 125 

the probable result to the negroes and crew. A drunken 
fellow kept interrupting him and the officer kept moving away 
from him till the fellow, deliberately placing himself in front 
of him, said, " You are a damned liar." The officer, a six- 
foot native of Maine, with a hand like a sledge hammer, drew 
off and struck him in the face with such power as to send 
him about ten feet into the corner of the room as limp as a 
bag of bones. The spectators neither moved nor spoke. The 
fellow, perceiving that he had no sympathy, gathered himself 
together, and, with a reproachful look at the company, left the 
room. Then one of the men, Ex-Governor Gist, I think 
(among the first of these brave men to sacrifice his life at 
Bull Run), quietly said, "Go on, Captain, with your story." 
The next morning a very rabid secession Colonel grasped the 
Captain by the hand and said, " You are a brave man. We 
were all delighted with your patient and gallant conduct last 
night ; but when you return home, don't boast of slapping a 
Carolinian in the face. That fellow is not a Southerner. 
No Southern gentleman would have insulted a stranger at such 
a time. The fact is, he is the son of a Yankee tailor, anxious 
to curry favor by displaying a sort of cheap patriotism that 
would disgrace our cause." 

A ludicrous incident of a somewhat different nature occurred 
one day in the space in front of the Post Office building, which 
was much used as a forum by persons wishing to harangue the 
people on public matters. A very pleasing speaker, who had 
taken an empty barrel for a rostrum, was orating on the ne- 
cessity of secession, and was giving profuse assurances of the 
support of the Democratic party in the North. In accentuating 
his speech he stamped very violently on the barrel head, which 
gave way, and in falling into the barrel he fractured his leg. 
The audience, filled with sympathy, sent him tenderly to the 
hospital. The next day exposed the fact that he was a cor- 
respondent of the New York Tribune who had been most 
abusive of the Secessionists of the State. The joke was fully 
appreciated, and he was most kindly cared for at the hospital 
until able to return to the North. 



126 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

The following private letter which I wrote from Charleston 
and which was printed in the New York Journal of Commerce 
of March 9, 1861, gives a clearer idea of conditions in Charles- 
ton at that time than any memories I can now evoke: 

" People's Bank, 
" Charleston, March i, 1861. 

" My dear Sir: — There appears to be no young man here 
who is not on active duty, almost daily. Indeed, on reflec- 
tion, I cannot recall a single individual of my acquaintance 
under forty years of age who is not enrolled for duty ; and 
most of them are actively engaged. My visit here has been 
one of great pleasure. I meet daily the leading civil and 
military officers of the State, in the most unreserved manner ; 
and, although you know I never conceal my love of the Union, 
and my regret that it is to be broken up, yet my views are 
tolerated. The Governor told me a few nights ago, that when 
he heard that a Commission had been appointed by the Pine 
Street Meeting to visit the State, he directed a telegraphic dis- 
patch to be sent to New York, to say that the Commission 
would be received with all honor. I was mortified to find that 
he had not received a copy of our proceedings. The sentiment 
of that meeting was grateful to public feeling here, and Mr. 
McKeon's speech was considered a true exposition of the 
Southern views on the subject at that time. 

" Then, the Union could have been saved, by a prompt ces- 
sation of Republican aggression ; and Georgia was regarded 
by the most sanguine here, as opposed to secession, till Major 
Anderson garrisoned Fort Sumter, contrary to express agree- 
ment between the Governor and the President: and even after 
that, had the least glimmering of redress come from Washing- 
ton the secession would have been confined to South Carolina. 

" There was a latent love of the Union, even in Charleston, 
till the last hope was literally crushed out by the hostile, defiant 
and most abusive course of Republican leaders and newspapers 
in Washington and at the North. Only men of refinement 
cnn appreciate the effect of such hostility upon a brave people 



SOUTHERN MISSION 127 

who, feeling themselves and their institutions maligned, are 
taunted as too cowardly to resent the insult. Stolid men and 
lovers of material wealth have a very inadequate idea of the 
sensitiveness which prevails in a community like that of South 
Carolina, as to its institutions and the sacred character of 
reputations, personal and political. No man whose reputation 
can be assailed in a point of honor fills a political position here. 
And perhaps the great source of the present unanimity in de- 
fense of State rights against the fearful odds of Federal power 
(by no means underrated here), is the unflinching confidence 
which every South Carolinian feels in every other South Caro- 
linian under the most trying circumstances. No one here dares 
deceive his neighbors; if one marches through the fire he is 
sure to be fully supported in the terrible ordeal ; shoulder to 
shoulder all invoke a common fate. 

" Did I not daily see the contrary, I should suppose that a 
sense of prudence would sometimes tone down the extraor- 
dinary temerity of these people — that the demand for sacri- 
fices of financial prosperity, of comfort, and of life itself 
would limit, at least to some extent, this enthusiastic devotion 
to an idea. But no. On the part of all ages, sexes and con- 
ditions, there is a determination to resist Northern domination, 
and to assert the sovereignty of their State in the most prac- 
tical manner and at any cost of life or treasure. 

" All this, too, is done in the most calm, and thoughtful 
manner. The dangers are fully admitted, the sacrifices freely 
discussed. No attempt is made to disguise the facts. 

" My old friend Judge Frost, a gentleman of the old school, 
took me by the hand a few days since, and pushing aside his 
gray hair, in a manner peculiar to him, said, ' I may never see 
you again ; I have enjoyed the comforts of affluence, and may 
soon descend to poverty, or may lose the lives of those dearest 
to me, and perish myself in the coming struggle ; but Union 
man as I have always been (as you know), I have with every 
deliberation counted the cost, and I give my free consent to 
the position of my State, and she shall have my last feeble 
efforts in her defense, to vindicate her rights and separate her 



128 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

people from those that have hated and maligned her insti- 
tutions.' 

" I met, a few nights ago, a distinguished and accomplished 
young lady who had been engaged during the day, as all the 
women here are now, in making clothing for the soldiers. She 
informed me that her two brothers were in the army at Sulli- 
van's Island, and that her father had just broken his leg 
accidentally, a misfortune which she, in common with him, 
deplored solely because she feared hostilities might be com- 
menced before he should be sufficiently restored to join his 
sons. You can form no idea of the universality of the en- 
thusiasm for the defense. One half of the employees of every 
bank, insurance company and mercantile or industrial estab- 
lishment are performing active military duty. So are about 
the same proportion of the officers and proprietors of most of 
these establishments. Furthermore, those who are not engaged 
in active duty drill nights. The professional men, not exclud- 
ing the clergy, are performing tasks connected with the general 
defense. The women not only vie with each other in restrict- 
ing their expenses for dress and in giving these economies to 
the military chest, but are fabricating clothing and other com- 
forts for the army. My friend General Harlee, who, you will 
recollect, distinguished himself years ago in the Florida War, 
and more recently as President of one of our State railroads, 
is here in the capacity of Lieutenant Governor, and a leading 
member of the Council informs me that the services of a com- 
pany have just been accepted from his own section of the State, 
whose aggregate wealth is over a million of dollars. There is 
a single regiment now stationed at one of the forts, whose de- 
struction would put every distinguished family in the State 
in mourning. One of the companies there is commanded by a 
Minister of the Episcopal church, and has in the ranks ten 
divinity students. My old schoolfellow, the Rev. A. Toomer 
Porter, one of the most pious and practically charitable clergy- 
men in the city, adds to his other duties the Chaplainship of 
one of the Volunteer Corps (composed of his old friends and 
college mates) which is stationed on the coast. He informs 



SOUTHERN MISSION 129 

me that, being rowed to the city from the camp last Sunday, 
he had the curiosity to notice the names of the persons ordered 
out of the ranks to row the boat and was surprised to find a 
Huger, a Lounds, a Rutledge, and a Ravenel, — four of the most 
distinguished names of the State. Even the slaves seem to take 
intense pleasure in helping their masters in the trenches. 

" While I write, a large number of slaves pass my window, 
just relieved from one of the forts. Each of them has his 
blanket and his cooking apparatus, sports a palmetto branch in 
his hat and whistles or sings a popular air to march by. Last 
week I visited the foundry, and found the negroes casting can- 
non balls. A Northern lady with me said ' See those slaves 
making balls to kill Abolitionists with ! ' Nothing can be more 
preposterous than the idea that the negroes are an element of 
weakness to the South. Mutual kindness and confidence are 
patent everywhere, and I was struck with the remark of a lady 
to a friend of mine a few days ago, when she requested him 
' not to be absent all night, as he must recollect that since 
John's death she had no protection on the premises during his 
absence,' John being a slave who lived and slept in the kitchen 
building. He had died quite recently, while Mistress did the 
last offices at his bedside, and Master was vainly rubbing his 
paralyzed limbs to restore animation. 

" At present, the larger part of the white population is en- 
gaged in military afiFairs, leaving the negroes almost alone on 
the plantations ; but crops are being put in as usual and such a 
thing as fear of an insurrection is never thought of. 

" The expenses of the defenses here of course are very 
heav}', but they have been defrayed thus far without any in- 
convenience by voluntary contributions of all the citizens, and 
the seven per cent, loan is being daily subscribed for by all 
classes, who seem to desire to assist the State in its trying 
exigency. 

"I am 

" Very truly yours, 

" Richard Lathers." 



I30 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

From Charleston I went to Savannah and Augusta, Georgia, 
where as a New York commission merchant I had formerly 
had many correspondents. 

On reaching Savannah I found the Governor of the State 
located in the same hotel with myself. Governor Brown was 
an extreme secessionist, recruited from the old nullification fac- 
tion of South Carolina, of which State he was a native. He had 
just seized three New York ships in retaliation for the seizure 
of a consignment of arms belonging to the State of Georgia. 
This unfortunate zeal without knowledge and discretion on 
the part of the police of New York, produced great excitement 
in Savannah as a clear violation of law under the Constitution. 
Even Union men here were compelled to resent it as an insult 
to the State which could not be of any assistance in conserving 
the Union. Upon learning of this affair, I communicated with 
prominent men of both parties in New York. 

The letters inserted here fully explain the Georgia contro- 
versy with New York, and the surrender of the New York 
ships by Georgia. 

"New York, March 15th, 1861. 
" Col. Richard Lathers, Savannah. 

" Dear Sir: — ... I made an extract of your letter relative 
to the seized arms and vessels and sent it to Messrs. Grinnel, 
Babcock and Hunt; they will do what they can. Kennedy, 
the policeman who seized the arms, is out of town ; to return 
to-morrow ; Mr. Babcock will see him. He is represented as 
one of those stubborn fellows, who, having done a wrong, 
proposes to take the consequences rather than retract. I am 
told that his own counsel told him, that his seizure is illegal, 
and so says every lawyer and every merchant. But I learn also 
that with Kennedy, it is a personal matter, that he was offended 
with Mr. Lamar, who he says accused him of mal-practice, and 
that he intends to try the case ; has given security for damages, 
etc., and if mulcted, as a matter of course, the city will be asked 
to pay the damages. ... It appears to me that it would be be- 
coming to the dignity of the State of Georgia to let the thing 



SOUTHERN MISSION 131 

take its legal course. If the Court of this State does not render 
justice, Georgia has a legal remedy in the United States Court 
against the State of New York. The whole thing is a legal 
controversy, not a national one. . . . Now, therefore, will not 
Governor Brown take this view of it and upon this informa- 
tion clear his skirts and the honor of the State from any con- 
nection with the transaction by releasing the vessels at once? 
That is my advice ; such a course would more effectually place 
the wrong all on this side and the advantage all on that. 

" Secession or no secession, temporary or permanent, the 
final adjustment of difficulties depends upon public men and 
public bodies refraining from speeches and action foreign to 
the real difficulties and of an irritating character. The news- 
papers and their correspondents are at present greater dis- 
turbers of the peace than the real difficulties which have con- 
tributed to disunion. 

" Respectfully &c., 

" John A. Parker." 

" New York, March i6th, 1861. 
" Col. Richard Lathers, Savannah, 

" Dear Sir:- — Mr. Babcock and some of the members of the 
Republican committee who went to Washington with Mr. 
Lathrop, are at work with Kerrigan, who is Kennedy's security 
in the case of the seized arms, to get their release, and Mr. 
Lathrop thinks they will succeed. I hope they will, but I 
would much prefer that the Governor would take the view 
in my letter of last evening, to regard it as a contest with a 
dirty policeman, against whose acts it did not become the dig- 
nity of the State to retaliate on innocent citizens. Such a 
course would gain great credit here for the Governor and his 
State, and the principles involved appear to be of so little 
national importance, that there is every reason in favor of 
his doing so. The whole thing depends here on nothing else 
but the bad temper of a mischief-making individual. . . . 

" Respectfully, 

"John A. Parker." 



132 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

" New York, March i8th, 1861. 
" Col. Richard Lathers, Savannah, Georgia. 

" Dear Sir: — I have this morning telegraphed you, ' The 
detained goods are shipped by Cromwell's Line, please com- 
municate to G. B.' I took it for granted that you would un- 
derstand that ' Detained goods ' meant muskets, and that ' G. 
B.' was legitimate for Governor Brown. The muskets were 
released Saturday night and immediately shipped via Balti- 
more to avoid their being followed by any other hound of the 
police, who might think there was a chance of gain or pelf in 
them. You know we have many such men amongst us. It 
was for the same reason that my telegram was written enig- 
matically that nothing could properly transpire out of doors 
until they were fairly gone. The release was obtained by 
bringing a strong pressure to bear on Kennedy's security, 
Kerrigan. Mr. Grinnel, Mr. Babcock, Mr. Hunt, Mr. Low, 
Mr. Lathrop, all interested themselves with Mr. Ward, the 
owner of one of the seized vessels, to whose care they were at 
once confided and who immediately took them in charge and 
shipped them. ... " Very truly yours etc., 

" John A. Parker." 

" Savannah, March 19, 1861. 
" To Messrs. Samuel D. Babcock, and John A. Parker, 
" New York : 
" Your telegrams of yesterday are received. The New York 
ships have been released, by order of the authorities here in 
consideration of the surrender of the arms by the New York 
Metropolitan Police. 

" H. Brigham, 
" Richard Lathers." 
" If Kennedy had not given up the arms, the ships would have 
been sold at public auction at Savannah, on Monday next. 
We subjoin Gov. Brown's instructions to his aide-de-camp to 
that effect. 



SOUTHERN MISSION 133 

" ' Executive Department, 
" ' MiLLEDGEViLLE, Ga., March 2, 1861. 
Col. Henry R. Jackson, Aide-de-camp, Savannah, Ga. : 
Sir: — Unless the property of which citizens of Georgia 
have been robbed by the pohce of the city of New York, who 
act under the authority of the Governor of that State, is in the 
meantime dehvered to the owners, by virtue of the power vested 
in me as Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and 
Navy of this State, I direct that you advertise immediately, 
and expose to sale on Monday, the 25th day of this month, be- 
tween the usual hours of sale, at place of sheriff's sales, in the 
City of Savannah, the following New York vessels, with their 
tackle, furniture, and apparel, now held under military seizure, 
by order, as reprisals, to wit : Ship Mary J. Ward, and schooner 
Julia A. Hallock. These vessels are to be sold for cash, for 
the purpose of indemnifying citizens of Georgia for the losses 
which they have sustained on account of the robberies per- 
petrated by the New York authorities, and of paying all ex- 
penses incurred in the premises. 

" ' Joseph E. Brown, 

" ' Governor of Georgia.' " 

While I was in Savannah Governor Brown narrated to me 
pleasantly the manner in which he had captured the Arsenal — ■ 
as his first military experience. He said that with a platoon 
of militiamen, commanded by a lieutenant, he paid a courteous 
visit to the commander of the garrison and the six or seven 
United States soldiers who were placed as a guard over the 
property. When he had made known the object of his visit, 
the officer in command replied that he could only surrender 
the post to an overwhelming force, and that such was not be- 
fore him. The Governor retired and returned to the Fort with 
two companies. Again the officer in command, after looking 
over the Governor's force, declared that the numbers were 
not sufficient to justify him in delivering up the property. The 
Governor told him good-naturedly that he was not willing to 



134 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

have his militiamen thus undervalued, and took possession of 
the Arsenal. 

Mrs. Lathers and I were invited by the Governor to go down 
the river with him on an excursion to witness the raising of 
the Confederate flag on Fort Pickens, which had just been 
evacuated by the United States garrison. The day was fine, 
and the banquet, at which there was an abundance of cham- 
pagne, developed much hilarity. On the return trip the band 
struck up " Dixie," and forthwith a line was formed, each 
person holding the coat tail of the person preceding him, to 
march round the deck of the steamer singing and keeping 
step to the music. The Governor, a rigid temperance man of 
the Baptist persuasion, was compelled by his gay companions 
to head the line. This was kept up for over an hour with only 
occasional rests devoted to drinking the health of the Gover- 
nor and the success of Dixie. There was no evidence of drunk- 
enness ; but the scene was extremely funny, the more that most 
of the party were officials or leading citizens. 

Years after the war, when visiting the Senate Chamber at 
Washington, I perceived among the most dignified-looking 
white-haired members of that body " old Joe Brown," no 
longer the fiery leader of Dixie, but a supporter of the Union 
which experience had taught him to revere. 

Savannah, at this period, rather exceeded its reputation for 
genial and sumptuous dinners. At a dinner given by Mr. 
Molyneux, at which General Lawton. Mr. Padelford (a Massa- 
chusetts merchant). Senator Robert Toombs, General Bartow, 
Postmaster Solomon Cohen, Robert Gourdin and General 
Gordon were present, the conversation turned on the Confed- 
erate tariff, which many held to be out of harmony with free 
trade and unwise and impolitic as a Southern measure. Robert 
Toombs said he only felt the loss of the old government be- 
cause it had afforded free trade among the States, and that he 
now had to pay a heavy duty on Paccalan's celebrated New 
York boots, which pinched him confoundedly. Our host then 
said. " Gentlemen, the time will soon come. I fear, when this 
will be brought home to you in a thousand ways. The very 
roast beef vou seem to enjoy to-day, comes in on a high tariff. 



SOUTHERN MISSION 135 

When we break up all connection with the North, we must 
be prepared to be less hospitable." 

On my first Sunday in Savannah I heard for the first time 
the prayer for the President of the Confederate States. Bishop 
Elliott preached an ingenious vindication of the change from 
the standpoint of the church ritual, taking for his text, " The 
powers that be are ordained of God." The clear duty of the 
Church, he said, was to conform to the existing government — 
to preach the gospel (and not partisan or sectional politics) 
under the authority of Him who said, " My kingdom is not of 
this world." In a talk with the Bishop after the service I said, 
" Bishop, I had expected from your text to hear an exposition 
of your views on the unfortunate national tendency to civil 
war." He replied in his usual urbane but decisive manner, 
" I never deal with politics in the pulpit, however much I may 
be interested in its controversies. The church provides a higher 
theme for the edification of its worshipers in the gospel of 
Christ. It was proper to-day that I should explain and justify 
to the congregation, the departure from our ritual in the 
Prayer for Rulers since it had become my duty to conform to 
the new Government under which the Church now exists." 

From Savannah I sent the following letter to the New York 
Express : 

"Savannah, March 13th, 1861. 

" Since my arrival here I have had several interesting in- 
terviews with the Governor and other leading men, and also 
with merchants of judgment, social position and Union pro- 
clivities, many of them New England men or their descend- 
ants. 

" I have also mingled freely with the populace of the city, 
with members of the State Convention, and with others from 
the rural districts of less social and political influence ; yet I 
have found but one avowed friend of reconstruction of the 
Union on the old basis. Still the tone here is not nearly as 
enthusiastic, nor is the military spirit nearly as evident as in 
South Carolina. The right of secession is not so strenuously 
insisted on here as a matter of political orthodoxy, secession 
being justified on the basis of incompatibility of sentiment. 



136 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

" Colonel Hunter, one of the oldest and most respected 
merchants here (the father-in-law of the late Senator Berrien), 
informs me that at the last interview he had with his old friend, 
Daniel Webster, that great statesman, with almost prophetic 
wisdom, informed him that the days of the Union were num- 
bered, because slavery was so repugnant to the North as to 
provide political capital for every ambitious tyro there. 

" The new Confederacy is becoming a fixed fact in all the 
relations of every-day life. The new flag streams over the 
public buildings, and even over the hotel I am writing in. 
Montgomery is freely spoken of as ' the capital ' ; Jefferson 
Davis as ' the President.' Yesterday I dined with the British 
Consul, and met among other leading men, the Collector of 
the Port, who spoke of the revenue law, and of his corre- 
spondence with the Secretary as to the proper construction of 
certain clauses. Indeed, one is astonished to see how readily 
the changed regime is conformed to. And yet Northern pa- 
pers, and even the President's message, entirely ignore the 
whole thing. The new Constitution seems to give universal 
satisfaction, and will be immediately adopted, without amend- 
ment. Its provisions are highly conservative, and show that 
the revolution is in the hands of substantial and earnest men, 
devoted to the real interests of their respective localities, and 
not in the hands of corrupt office-seekers. 

" The State Convention, now in session here, is composed 
principally of middle-aged men. Many of them are old-line 
Whigs — devoted followers of Henry Clay, and ardent sup- 
porters of the Union — and had the last Congress shown the 
least intention of doing justice to the South, under Mr. Crit- 
tenden's or any other project of equality in the Territories, 
Georgia could have been saved and the Union kept intact by 
their influence and votes ; for the number and influence of 
the secessionists per se were small and unimportant. But 
Union men looked in vain to the Legislature of New York 
and the Congress at Washington ; they lost all hope, and finally 
yielded — many of them, under their disappointment, becoming 
more ardent than the Secession leaders. 



SOUTHERN MISSION 137 

" In Augusta I found a large class of outspoken Union men. 
My friends of both parties there gave me a dinner, during 
which the secession issue was fully canvassed with the most 
perfect good humor and I was good-naturedly taxed with for- 
getting my allegiance to the South and disappointing my 
friends because, as they put it, I had married a Northern 
wife." 

From Montgomery, Alabama, I wrote to the New York 
Journal of Commerce as follows: 

" Exchange Hotel. 
" Montgomery, Ala., March 27, 1861. 

" I have visited all the principal cities of Georgia — Savannah, 
Augusta, Columbus and Macon. The usual hospitality con- 
tinues to be extended to strangers, even of the North, unless 
they allow their sympathies for the slave, and their ofifensive 
puritanical sentiments to overcome that sense of propriety 
which should always mark intercourse between gentlemen. 
Union sentiment prevailed in the interior cities of Georgia, 
till after the vote of the Convention was cast in favor of 
secession. 

" The Union, or Co-operation party, as they called them- 
selves, had perhaps a small majority, when the Convention met. 
The secession party prevailed, because of the attitude of the Na- 
tional Government towards South Carolina and because of 
the Republican press, which derided the secession movement 
as a mere party trick to deprive Republicans of the fruits of 
their victory. Republican papers in many cases said that the 
Southern States could not be kicked out of the Union, and 
that if they should dare to go out, the North would whip 
them back. It is an instructive fact in this connection, that 
volunteers for the army and contributions for the State of 
Georgia, are quite as largely furnished by the conservative 
men who voted against secession, as by the most ardent seces- 
sionists. And now there does not seem to be the least differ- 
ence of opinion as to the future. 



138 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

" I find the sentiment in Alabama, as expressed in this city, 
in perfect accord with that of Georgia and CaroHna. The 
public is now devoted entirely to perfecting the new Govern- 
ment, and preparing the defense, yet hoping for peace. An 
old and efficient Union statesman said to me yesterday that 
he had exhausted his influence without efifect in favor of 
co-operation. But now that the new Government was estab- 
lished on so firm a basis of equality and conservatism, and that 
Puritan influence so persistently controlled the Northern senti- 
ment with regard to Southern equality and rights of property, 
he, in common with all his party, would oppose any attempt 
to re-construct the old Union. He saw no hope, he added, 
of a reunion of destinies except by the conservative States 
of the North (barring the New England States), joining the 
Confederate States. With New England, Southerners desire 
to have nothing more to do politically. It is very singular that 
men of New England origin who have nobly fought for the 
Union in the late struggle here are, if possible, even more 
emphatic against New England. 

" It will be grateful to you to hear that the city of New 
York is always spoken of with a degree of affection in this 
connection. Our old State, with all its Republican sins and 
its corrupt legislation, is regarded with respect, in considera- 
tion of our uniform defense of constitutional rights when 
the old Democracy was pure. Those patriotic RepubHcans of 
our city, whose efforts are directed to prevent bloodshed and 
civil war, and, who, rising above party trammels, propose to 
restore peace and a return of commercial relations with our 
brethren of the South, are doing more towards an ultimate 
reunion than all the armies which could be raised to coerce a 
people determined to maintain themselves at all hazard. 

" I love the Union, even the part which will be left, if it 
is doomed to rupture ; and given a peaceable settlement with 
the new Confederacy, I hope that a common origin, language 
and destiny will yet re-unite a people whose greatness would 
be destroyed by fraternal strife." 



CHAPTER VI 

THE MONTGOMERY ADDRESS 

In Montgomer}', which was the seat of the newly organized 
Confederate Government, I was introduced personally to Jef- 
ferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy, by my friend 
Mr. Memminger, who had just been appointed Secretary- of 
tlie Confederate Treasury. When I had presented numerous 
letters of introduction from distinguished mutual friends in 
Washington, Charleston, and Savannah, the President inquired 
after many of his Northern friends and especially after those 
who had signed the " Address " of the Pine Street meeting 
and those who were members of the Peace Congress assembled 
at Washington. He then expressed his readiness for the 
official interview. After reading the " Appeal to the South " 
of the Pine Street meeting, which was well received by Mr. 
Davis and handsomely applauded by the audience, I delivered 
the following address : 

" Mr. President : — The fraternal appeal which I have had 
the honor of reading to you, so fully expresses the sympathy of 
several hundred of your fellow citizens in the State and in 
the city of New York as to leave for me only a friendly 
remonstrance, from a Southerner's standpoint, against the 
theory and the practice of secession. My advocacy of Southern 
rights in the political struggles at the North for over a quarter 
of a century, my intimate relations with Southern enterprises 
and my personal interests in South Carolina, as a property 
owner, combine to arouse in me a deep Concern regarding 
everything that tends either to unsettle the right of property 
in slaves or to jeopardize the peace, possessions and industry 
of the South. 

139 



I40 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

" It is with profound regret, Mr. President, that I find my- 
self compelled to dififer with you and with my distinguished 
friend at my side, the Honorable Mr. Memminger, your able 
Secretary of the Confederate Treasury, with regard to the 
scope, the sigfnificance, and the stability of the Union of the 
States. 

" It is well known that the ' Articles of Confederation ' (the 
original compact between the States) was so defective that some 
of the States refused to contribute their quota to the national 
revenue and a Convention of the States to confer upon it 
greater power became necessary. This Convention, finding 
it quite impracticable to so amend the Articles of Confedera- 
tion as to make them a proper basis for a national government, 
devised the present national Constitution. This document, 
which is a miracle of wisdom and unsurpassed by any organic 
law in the world, is a compromise by which, through powers 
conceded by all the States acting in unison, the central gov- 
ernment possesses national sovereignty, while, under the rights 
which all the States acting in unison, reserved to themselves, 
local self-government is assured. Thus is realized a ' per- 
petual union of indestructible States,' — a distribution and limi- 
tation of power as unique as it is just and practical. The 
legislation of each State is absolute, except when it conflicts 
with the powers conceded to the central government ; and 
the final interpretation of both the State laws and the acts 
of the central government rests with a high judicial tribunal, 
the Supreme Court of the Union, — an umpire whose capacity 
and integrity have never been impugned. The definition in the 
Constitution of the functions of the Supreme Court is com- 
prehensive and explicit, and seems to have anticipated every 
exigency likely to arise. Let me quote a sentence which per- 
tains to the present controversy: 'The jurisdiction of the 
national judiciary shall extend to the cases which regulate the 
collection of the national revenue, and questions which involve 
the national peace and safety.' By virtue of this sentence, 
the Supreme Court became a bar, sixty years ago, to Nulli- 
fication when that heresy menaced the collection of our na- 



THE MONTGOMERY ADDRESS 141 

tional revenue ; and, by virtue of this same sentence, it stands 
ready to-day to offer a potent and peaceful remedy for sec- 
tional estrangement and secession. 

" It is difficult, Mr. President, with consistency, to follow 
closely the lead of the sectional doctrinaires of any age or party. 
Probably there are now no Hartford secessionists in New 
England, threatening, as did the secessionists of 1815, to over- 
throw the power of our Government. Should the present un- 
fortunate sectional controversy culminate in civil war, the sons 
of these very New England secessionists will be the first, per- 
haps, to enlist to suppress a secession movement in the South. 

" The tariflf of 1816, the first to embody the doctrine of pro- 
tection, was introduced into Congress, carried through and 
established, under the lead of South Carolina. Among its 
most earnest supporters, if not projectors, was John C. Calhoun, 
while its chief opponents were New England men led by Daniel 
Webster. These great doctrinaires of their respective sections, 
subsequently changed sides on the tariff to meet the changed 
conditions and pursuits of their respective communities, Cal- 
houn becoming an advocate of free trade and Webster of pro- 
tection. Indeed, admonished by these changes of sectional 
feeling and policy, I believe the time may come when the 
present Confederates of the South will be battling for the 
Union against the folly of Northern secession. 

" State Rights is practically the true and effective reserved 
power which was guaranteed by the people in convention to 
each State for protection against centralization, and is an 
essential element of a federative national union. State Rights 
is a power in the Union, but has no title or guarantee, either 
at home or abroad, out of the Union. Fealty to the national 
government and to its conceded rights under the Constitu- 
tion, is fealty to State Rights. Every citizen, therefore, who 
swears to support the Constitution of the United States, swears 
also to support State Rights under it. The disregard of these 
mutual obligations by sectional Abolitionism at the North or 
by sectional Secessionism at the South are equally open to 
the charge of disloyalty to the federal or State government 



142 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

and if manifested in overt acts are equally subject to punish- 
ment. 

" The terms ' State sovereignty,' and ' secession ' do not 
appear as titles in the original Articles of Confederation or 
the subsequent Constitution. The use of the popular term 
' sovereign States ' conferred no power on the States beyond 
the rights which were guaranteed by the compact in and not 
out of the Union ; not unlike, perhaps, certain powers which 
they had enjoyed under their colonial charters, from the sov- 
ereign of Great Britain. It is true that some of the States de- 
clined, for periods more or less brief, to accept the new 
Constitution ; but this was merely a struggle for certain modi- 
fications which were not conceded, and not a claim for sov- 
ereignty or for the relaxation of the ' perpetual union ' clause. 
In no case has any State (save Texas, for a short period, be- 
tween its separation from Mexico and its union with the 
United States), ever exercised or claimed to exercise any 
sovereignty, save that local self-government which was re- 
served to it by the Constitution. Even if our Union had been 
a union of sovereign States, it is quite absurd to hold that 
any State would have surrendered its sovereignty for the 
uncertain tenure of a mere protective Union, for a voluntary 
compact which might be severed at the pleasure of any one 
or more of the contracting parties, who might form an alli- 
ance with some foreign country, — even with Great Britain. 

" A great Southern orator and patriot, Patrick Henry of Vir- 
ginia, who was not quite in accord with the Constitution while 
it was before Virginia for ratification, affirmed that it is demon- 
stratively clear that the Constitution creates a consolidated 
government. ' The language,' he said, ' is, we, the people 
instead of we, the States. It must, therefore, be one great 
consolidated government of the people of all the States.' 

" Let me in this connection, Mr. President, quote the opinion 
of a celebrated Southerner, Charles Coatesworth Pinckney, of 
my own Palmetto State, a prominent soldier and statesman 
of the Revolution, and the trusted friend of Washington. He 
writes : ' Separate independence and individual sovereignty 



THE MONTGOMERY ADDRESS 143 

of the several States were never thought of by the enhghtened 
band of patriots who framed the Declaration of Independence. 
The several States are not even mentioned by name in any 
part of it, as if it was intended to impress this maxim on 
America, that our freedom and independence arose from our 
Union, and that without it we could neither be free nor 
independent. Let us then consider all attempts to weaken 
this Union by maintaining that each State is separately and 
individually independent as a species of political heresy, which 
may never benefit us and may bring on us the most serious 
distress.' 

" I am aware that secession derives one of its chief argu- 
ments for disunion, from language used in the ratification of 
the Federal Constitution, by the State of Virginia, as follows: 
' That the power granted under the Constitution, being derived 
from the people of the United States may be resumed by them 
whensoever the same shall be perverted to their injury or op- 
pression.' This language refers clearly and expressly to the 
people of the United States, and not to the people of Virginia. 
The present Constitution which was designed to form, (using 
its own language), 'a perpetual Union' emphasized further 
the element of permanence by declaring its object to be, ' To 
form a more perfect union and to secure the blessings of lib- 
erty to ourselves and our posterity forever.' But even if the 
language of Virginia be conceded to mean what the Secession- 
ists make it mean (a concession belied by all our judicial de- 
cisions), even then secession cannot be justified, because it 
has not been shown, and cannot be shown, that the Govern- 
ment of the United States has been perverted to the injury 
or oppression of the seceding States, or any citizen thereof. 

" In this connection let me quote the highest judicial author- 
ity in our country. Chief Justice Marshall of the Supreme 
Court of the United States, a native Virginian, in adjudicat- 
ing a Southern question which involved the constitutionality 
of secession, said : ' The people made the Constitution and 
the people can unmake it. It is the creature of their will. 
But this supreme and irresistible power to make or unmake. 



144 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

resides in the whole body of the people, and not in any sub- 
division of them. The attempt of any of the parts to exercise 
this usurpation, ought to be repelled by those to whom the 
people have delegated their power of repelling it.' And an- 
other great Southerner, Howell Cobb of Georgia, a distin- 
guished Senator and Cabinet Officer, when asked ten years 
ago to concede the right of a State to secede from the Union, 
with or without cause, at its pleasure, asserted that ' the f ramers 
of the Constitution did that which was never done before by 
any other people possessed of their good sense and intelli- 
gence' if they provided ' in the very organization of the gov- 
ernment for its dissolution. ... I have no hesitancy in declar- 
ing,' he said, ' that the convictions of my own judgment are 
well settled, that no such principle was contemplated in the 
adoption of our Constitution.' 

" A great deal has been inferred from the Resolutions of 
Kentucky and Virginia in 1798. It is well known that they 
were only advanced for party purposes, and were, like the 
secession resolutions of the Hartford Convention, resolutions 
of menace to the Union which fulfilled their party purpose and 
largely influenced the election, but were disregarded by the 
great body of the people of all parties. 

" The answer to the exaggerated claims made for these 
manifestos is at hand. Mr. Jeflferson, said to be one of the 
promoters of the agitation which resulted in the Virginia 
Resolutions, was subsequently elected President of the United 
States ; and his administration is noted for its vigorous main- 
tenance of federal powers. Mr. Madison, who, it is said, 
drafted the Resolutions, not only refused to admit that the 
secession powers claimed for State sovereignty were lawful, 
but declared that the remedy pointed at by his Resolutions, 
was intended as an appeal for a Convention of the States against 
unconstitutional laws, and nothing more. 

" Mr. Ritchie, the celebrated State Rights editor of the Rich- 
mond Enquirer, who really gave law half a century ago to 
the State Rights Democracy of Virginia, if not of the Union, 
expressed his view of this question in 1814 against the seces- 



THE MONTGOMERY ADDRESS 145 

sion doctrines of the Hartford Convention, as follows : ' No 
association of men, no State or set of States, has a right to 
withdraw from the Union of their own accord. The same 
power that knit us together, can alone unknit. The same for- 
mality that forged the links of the Union is necessary to 
dissolve it. The majority of the States which formed the 
Union must consent to their withdrawal. There is no power 
in any one of the States to substitute secession as the medium 
of redress for actual or fancied grievances, in place of the 
legal and moral remedies supplied by the organic law of the 
country. The enlightened founders of this Great Republic 
had no idea, and their legislative action has given no color, 
implied or direct, that a perpetual Union, which they thought 
and claimed to originate should be menaced by the dis-union 
doctrine of secession.' 

" Mr. Jefferson, in the Virginia Convention of 1788 said, 
' In the event of serious dififerences between the Federal Gov- 
ernment and a State or States which can be neither avoided 
nor compromised, a Convention of all the States must be 
called to ascribe the doubtful powers to that department which 
they may think best.' 

" Calhoun opposed the doctrine of secession because, to use 
his own terse words, ' It led to dis-union and afforded no peace- 
ful remedy against unconstitutional laws.' His remedy for 
violations of the constitutional rights of the South, was an 
appeal, should the Supreme Court fail to give satisfaction, to 
a Convention of the people of the States ; the effectual and 
only practical tribunal recognized by the Constitution as para- 
mount in such a controversy. It is true that an attempt has 
been made to show that his Nullification doctrine logically 
justified secession; but, Mr. President, you will recall the 
words of Edmund Burke to his parliamentary constituents : 
' No one has a right,' said Burke, ' to charge me with holding 
opinions, on the ground of logic, which I have specially dis- 
claimed.' 

" Indeed, the term Nullification was never used by Mr. 
Calhoun. It was a term adopted by Mr. Jefferson. In a 



146 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

letter written by Mr. Calhoun to a friend on this subject, he 
remarks, ' Nullification is not my word. I never use it. I 
always say State interposition. My purpose is a suspensive 
veto to compel the installing of the highest tribunal provided 
by the Constitution, to decide on the point in dispute. I do 
not wish to destroy the Union. I only wish to make it honest. 

The Union is too strong to break If a convention 

of the States were called and it should decide that the protec- 
tive policy is constitutional, what then? Then give it up.' 

" Surely nothing can be clearer than Mr. Calhoun's express 
objections to Secession on every occasion when the doctrine 
came before him. In his celebrated letter of advice to the 
Legislature of South Carolina, warning the State against Seces- 
sion, he says, that the reserved rights of the State were not 
conferred to enable it to resume delegated powers at will, but 
to prevent the reserved powers of the State from being assumed 
by the National Government. He further advises, in case of 
an infringement of State rights : ' The States ought to be 
convened in a general convention, the most august assembly 
representing the united sovereignty of the confederate States 
and having power and authority to correct every error and 
to repair every depredation or injury, whether caused by time 
or accident or the conflicting movements of the bodies which 
compose the system. With institutions every way so fortu- 
nately possessed, so well calculated to prevent discord and so 
admirably to correct them when they cannot be prevented, he. 
who would prescribe for political diseases, disunion on the 
one side or coercion of a State on the other, would deserve, 
and will receive, the execration of this and all future genera- 
tions. There is provided a power over the Constitution itself 
vested in three-fourths of the States, which Congress has the 
authority to invoke, and which may terminate all controversies 
in reference to all subjects — granting or withholding the right 
in the contest. Its authority is acknowledged by all. and to 
deny or resist it would be, on the part of the State, a violation 
of the Constitutional compact and a dissolution of a political 
association, as far as it is concerned. This is the ultimate 



THE MONTGOMERY ADDRESS 147 

and highest power, and the basis on which the whole system 
rests.' 

" These, Mr. President, are the sentiments of the wisest and 
most patriotic State Rights statesman which the South or 
any section of the country has produced. I recall them to your 
memory and I commend them to you and to all thoughtful 
statesmen who are now called on to determine the destinies of 
the South. 

" No constitutional government but our own has been so 
thoroughly furnished with ample remedial measures against 
legislative encroachments on personal rights or on State rights. 
The citizen, as well as the State, under the jurisdiction of 
the Supreme Court, has ample means of redress ; and, as a 
still farther protection to the reserved rights and institutions 
of the State, when the redress has not or cannot be obtained 
in the Federal Supreme Court, an appeal is open, as Mr. Cal- 
houn remarks, to a Convention of the people of all the States — 
the supreme authority in the Union because the very Creator 
of the Union. This offers the highest court of arbitration for 
the revision of any fancied or real encroachments on State 
Rights. 

" Now, Sir, it is beyond dispute that both of these peaceful 
remedies (appeal to the Supreme Court or to a Convention 
of the people of the States), would be overwhelmingly favor- 
able to Southern rights in any case that might be brought up. 
The Dred Scott Decree, recently rendered by the Supreme 
Court in favor of the rights of the slaveholder, in the face 
of the most energetic effort to the contrary, is fully seconded 
by every expression of the majority of the States, North as 
well as South : and this is equally true of every question of 
Southern rights that is raised. Only recently, as you well 
know, John Brown was convicted and hanged for criminally 
invading your territorv'. 

" In view of the protection afforded by the Union to the 
South, and of the advantages which the Union has conferred 
on the South, I am constrained to ask in the language of Mr. 
Calhoun : ' Are you ready to destroy the existing national 



148 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

relations, which would be to destroy the property of the 
Southern States, and to place two races in a state of con- 
flict, which must end in the expulsion or extermination of one 
or the other ? ' 

" Mr. President, I am a pro-slavery man. I accept the in- 
herited institution of slavery as I do the other conditions with 
which God in His providence has surrounded me. I can see 
its defects and regret them as fully as any emancipationist. 
Every substance casts a shadow. But I can also see what 
the sectional agitators of the North seem not to see, that the 
slavery of the African race, as inherited by the South, has 
produced a social refinement and a personal manhood and 
integrity which are everywhere in evidence — in public and 
official as well as in private life. Whatever may come out of 
this reckless attempt to rupture the Union by civil war, slavery 
is doomed; and with it the peculiar refinement which has 
grown up and flourished under it, just as the refinement of 
Athens passed away when Athens came into armed conflict 
with the greater power of Rome. 

" Sir, there is in New York, Pennsylvania and the border 
States, a band of cool, patriotic men, who stand openly and 
firmly pledged to maintain the Constitutional rights and in- 
stitutions of the South as well as the sovereignty and perpetu- 
ity of the government of this Union. To this band belong the 
signers of the 'Appeal to the South ' (just read to you), who 
represent vastly greater numbers and power than the actual 
secession advocates of the whole South. Furthermore, such 
men are to be found in all the Northern States, not even ex- 
cepting those of New England. Shall these noble-hearted men 
of both parties, who are loyal (in spite of their prejudice 
against slavery) to the pledges of the Constitution and stand 
ready to repair the wrongs inflicted or to be inflicted by the 
fanatical minority in their midst, be made your enemies by an 
untimely, unjustifiable and ungrateful attempt at dis-union? 
Pardon my plainness, Mr. President, but this is a time for 
candor among Southern men. Those of us who have material 
interests and aflfections at stake cannot contemplate unmoved 



THE MONTGOMERY ADDRESS 149 

the possibility of an unequal contest which will imperil the 
lives, the peace and the prosperity of the South. 

" The South, in my judgment, because of its peculiar in- 
stitution, slavery, is more vitally concerned in the perpetuity 
of the Union than any other section of the country. We of 
the South must not disguise from ourselves the fact that slavery 
in this age, with or without reason, has no support in the 
civilized world, except that accorded it here by the Constitu- 
tion of the United States. Slavery is only maintained by the 
power and the good faith of the very government which Seces- 
sion proposes to rupture on the feeble and baseless pretext 
of an anticipated hostility. 

" In proof of the present good faith of the government to- 
wards the slaveholder, let me quote a paragraph from Presi- 
dent Lincoln's Inaugural, an utterance which ought to quiet 
the fears of the most nervous slaveholder, and give confidence 
to every Union heart, coming as it does not only from a 
triumphant party leader, but also, from one who is a respecter 
of the Constitution and the rights of the States under it. ' I 
have no purpose,' says the President, ' directly or indirectly, 
to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where 
it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I 
have no inclination to do so. Those who nominated and elected 
me, did so with the full knowledge that I had made this and 
similar declarations, and had never recanted them ; and more 
than this, they placed in the platform for my acceptance and 
as a law to themselves and me, the clear and emphatic reso- 
lution which I now read. 

" ' " Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of 
each State to order and control its own domestic institutions 
according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that 
balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our 
political fabric depends. And we denounce the lawless inva- 
sion by an armed force of the soil of any State or Territory, 
no matter on what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes." 

" ■ I add, too, that all the protection that, consistently with 
the Constitution and laws, can be given, will be cheerfully 



ISO REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

given to all the States when lawfully demanded, for whatever 
cause, as cheerfully to one section as to another.' 

" Now, Mr. President, can you devise a more explicit guar- 
antee of Southern rights than this declaration of the Republican 
President thus pledged by his oath of office to the nation and 
the party which elected him ; especially since the Congress 
which shares the power with him has a decided Democratic 
majority to protect Southern interests in both houses? 

" By way of further proof that slavery is not endangered by 
the agitation of the Abolitionists of the North, I will call your 
attention to the speech of Senator Hammond, of South Caro- 
lina, delivered on October 24th, 1858. After telling his audi- 
ence how the anti-slavery sentiment had been encouraged up 
to 1833 by the emancipation of their slaves by Washington and 
Jefferson, and by the strenuous efforts of such prominent 
Southern statesmen as Crawford, Clay and Marshall in behalf 
of the colonization of the negroes in Liberia (incidents which 
compelled the slave-holders to investigate the moral basis of 
the institution for the existence of which they had hitherto 
apologized as a heritage from England), Senator Hammond 
remarks: 'But a few bold spirits took the subject up and, 
after a thorough investigation, found good reasons for its 
defense ; and it would be difficult now to find a Southern man 
who finds the system to be the slightest burden on his con- 
science, who in fact does not regard it an equal advantage to 
the master and the slave, elevating both as to wealth, strength 
and power, and as one of the main pillars and controlling in- 
fluences of modem civilization, and who is not now prepared to 
maintain it at every hazard. Such has been the happy result 
of Abolition discussion. So far our gain in value and security 
from the contest has been immense, savage and malignant as 
it has been. And how stands it now ? Why, in this quarter of 
a century our slaves have doubled in numbers and each slave 
has doubled in value.' 

" It is highly interesting to mark the change in the course 
of public sentiment on this subject of slavery. In April, 1784, 
Thomas Jefferson, as chairman of a committee, reported to 



THE MONTGOMERY ADDRESS 151 

Congress a bill for the temporary government of our Western 
Territory, in which appeared the following clause : ' That after 
the year 1800, there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary 
servitude in any of the States [new States to be formed] other- 
wise than in punishment for crime.' One would suppose, Mr. 
President, that the South would have been indignant at a 
proposition so utterly opposed to the interests of slave-holders. 
The truth is that the territory was left open to slavery by the 
unanimous vote of the Northern members, while the members 
from Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina and 
Georgia voted in the negative. Indeed, there was at that 
time little interest in the South in the perpetuation of slavery. 
Not until the admission of Missouri as a State were sectional 
lines drawn, and then the tariff issue had more to do with the 
drawing of the lines than slavery did. 

" The distinguished Georgia statesman, Mr. Stephens, now 
Vice President of the Confederacy, in his admirable address 
to his constituents on retiring from public life in Georgia, 
July 1859, said : — ' I am not of the number of those who be- 
lieve that we have received any injury by slavery agitation. 
It is true we were not responsible for it. We were not the 
aggressors. We acted on the defensive. We repelled assault, 
calumny and aspersion by argument, by reason and by truth. 
But so far from the institution of African slavery in our sec- 
tion being weakened or rendered less secure by discussion, 
my deliberate judgment is, that it has been greatly strength- 
ened and fortified, not only in the opinions, convictions and 
consciences of men, but by the action of the government of 
the United States.' 

" In his eloquent and patriotic reply to Senator Toombs, 
November last, before the Legislature of Georgia, Mr. Stephens 
said further, ' The first question which presents itself is, shall 
the people of the South secede from the Union in consequence 
of the election of Mr. Lincoln to the presidency of the United 
States ? My countrymen, I tell you frankly, candidly and earn- 
estly, that I do not think they ought. In my judgment, the 
election of no man constitutionally chosen for that high office, 



152 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

is sufficient for any State to separate from the Union. It ought 
to stand by and aid in supporting the Constitution of the coun- 
try. To make a point of resistance to the government, to with- 
draw from it because a man is constitutionally elected, puts 
us in the wrong. We are pledged to maintain the Consti- 
tution. Many of us have sworn to support it. Can we, there- 
fore, for the mere election of a man to the Presidency, and 
that too, in accordance with the prescribed forms of the Con- 
stitution, make a point of resistance to the government, with- 
out becoming the breakers of that sacred instrument ourselves ? 
Withdrawing ourselves from it, would we not be in the wrong? 
Whatever fate is to befall this country, let it never be laid to 
the charge of the people of the South, and especially to the 
people of Georgia, that we were untrue to our national en- 
gagements ; let the fault and the wrong rest upon others ! If 
all our hopes are to be blasted, if the Republic is to go down, 
let us be found till the last moment standing on the deck with 
the Constitution of the United States waving over our heads ! 
Let the fanatics of the North break the Constitution, if such 
is their fell purpose ! Let the responsibility rest on them ! ' 

" The election of Mr. Lincoln by a larger majority than that 
of his predecessor, Mr. Buchanan, while giving him a popular 
as well as a legal right to the office, is simply the triumph of 
the Republican Party, as the election of Mr. Buchanan four 
years ago was a triumph of the Democratic Party ; and affords 
no justification for secession on the ground that it is a menace 
to the institution of slavery. The fact is, that the majority 
which elected Mr. Lincoln was chiefly made up of voters favor- 
ing a tariff for the protection of Northern manufacturers, but 
opposed to even the agitation of Abolition — as the platform 
of their party and the acceptance of their candidate proves, 
and as Mr. Lincoln avers in his inaugural. Indeed, a careful 
investigation shows that the aggregate vote of the whole North 
did not contain ten per cent, of emancipationists. Southern 
institutions are rather strengthened than impaired by this elec- 
tion of a Northern candidate pledged by his oath of office as 
well as by his party platfonri to respect the reserved rights of 



THE MONTGOMERY ADDRESS 153 

the South. The States of the South are in full enjoyment 
to-day of all the rights of the Northern States and of certain 
special rights besides which the Northern States do not enjoy. 

" In short, it is difficult to perceive what arguments can be 
adduced to justify a rupture of this Union in behalf of slavery ; 
for, while certain factions in the Eastern States have been un- 
friendly to slavery, these factions have been a small minority 
of the Northern voters, and, being conscious of their numerical 
weakness, have made no attempt to put anti-slavery planks into 
any of their national party platforms. 

" Furthermore, there is no allegation on the part of the Se- 
cession leaders, and cannot be that the Federal Government, 
in any manner or at any time, has displayed any opposition 
to the South and its rights. 

" For over sixty years the South has practically governed 
and well governed this country. The Presidency, the Senate, 
the Judiciary, the Army, the Navy and the Diplomatic Corps 
have been practically dominated by Southern influence. The 
Presidency has been filled — with one or two exceptions — by 
Southern men or men having the confidence of the South, and 
the legislative and judicial powers have been for the most part 
well disposed to the South. The legislation of Congress and 
the decisions of the Supreme Court have been notably favor- 
able to Southern interests. Even when the South asked for 
more territory with which to extend and protect slavery. 
Congress annexed, despite sectional opposition, Louisiana, 
Florida and Texas. Furthermore, I cannot recall a single 
act of Congress promoting Southern interests during this long 
period that has not been largely supported by Northern rep- 
resentatives. 

" If the South had been true to itself, we should have a pro- 
nounced Southern representative in the White House to-day ; 
for you will excuse the personality, Mr. President, when I re- 
call the fact that a leading New England Democrat, Benjamin 
F. Butler, and his friends, as members of the Charleston Con- 
vention, cast over twenty ballots for your own candidacy for 
that hiffh office. 



154 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

"It is to the breaking up of that Convention in Charleston, 
that we may attribute the defeat of the Democratic Party and 
the election of Mr. Lincoln. The same Secession leaders from 
Alabama, who openly threatened Secession in the Democratic 
Convention at Cincinnati in 1856, unless they should be per- 
mitted to engraft their peculiar views on the Party declarations, 
finding themselves unable in i860 to dictate a policy which the 
Party could not sustain in the North and West, (because Con- 
gress had no power to legislate the institution of slavery in or 
out of the Territories) withdrew from the Convention. They 
created thereby a situation which not only forced the disso- 
lution of that body, but caused the disintegration and defeat of 
the Party ; thus sacrificing with yourself another distinguished 
Southern statesman, John C. Breckinridge, for whose election 
to the Presidency I did my utmost, being, indeed, a member of 
the New York State Convention which so heartily responded 
to his nomination. 

" The great body of the leading men at the North, while 
opposed to slavery abstractly, are in deep sympathy with all 
that concerns the prosperity of their Southern brethren and 
their constitutional rights. Of this attitude the fraternal ' Ad- 
dress ' just read, is a striking expression. The Pine Street 
Meeting was not a mere popular gathering; it was a meeting 
of distinguished public men of both parties who came together 
to make one last effort to avoid civil war, by giving pledges to 
their Southern brethren of sympathy and support in the Union, 
and of the maintenance of their absolute rights under the Con- 
stitution. I could show you. Sir, hundreds of similar pledges 
in letters from prominent men of both parties in New England. 
It may appear to you, as you have intimated, that this action 
was prompted by business motives rather than by love of the 
South. In a measure, Mr. President, this may be true, since 
all patriotism and all friendships are based on personal interests 
more or less; but this is no reason for discrediting these sen- 
timents. 

" Your friends of the North regard secession as forcing 
slavery into the very danger which it assumes to avert. It pro- 



THE MONTGOMERY ADDRESS 155 

poses to stake the actual substance against the possible shadow. 
It is preposterous to claim that slavery is in any present danger. 
I have, I think, proved (by the highest Southern authority, for 
I have abstained from quoting Northern authority), that legis- 
lation adverse to slavery is now quite impossible. The market 
value of slaves is the true barometer of public opinion as to the 
security of slave property. At a late sale of negroes, which 
I witnessed in Charleston, I noted that not only were the high- 
est former market prices fully maintained in the face of this 
outcry of danger, but that prices had really advanced as com- 
pared with the average of twenty years ; and my friend here, 
Mr. Memminger, will confirm this. This is the best possible 
practical evidence of the public confidence in the tenure of 
slavery. 

" There is a school of honest but mistaken statesmen who 
do not attempt to justify secession as a legal remedy, because 
they can adduce no wrong on the part of the Government. 
They love to quote from the Declaration of Independence the 
paragraph as to the right of a people to institute a new govern- 
ment at the pleasure of the governed. But they overlook the 
important conservative clause which declares ' That a decent 
respect for the opinions of mankind requires that we should 
declare the causes which compel us to separate,' and this affirm- 
ation is accompanied by a list of twenty-seven political abuses 
of the most despotic character. These, the Declaration of In- 
dependence oflfered in justification of their proposed secession 
from Great Britain, in emphatic recognition of their moral 
duty to the nations and peoples of the earth. 

" And just here, Mr. President, I would, with all due respect, 
and in the language of the Vice President of the Confederacy, 
ask ' What reasons can you give to the nations of the earth to 
justify secession? They will be the calm and deliberate judges 
in this case. What overt act can you name or point to on 
which to rest the plea of justification? What right has the 
North assailed ? What interest of the South has been invaded ? 
What justice has been denied? And what claim founded on 
justice and right has been withheld?' Can any of you to-day 



156 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

name one Government act of wrong deliberately and purposely 
done by the Government at Washington of which the South 
has a right to complain ? I challenge the answer. I am not 
here as the advocate of the North, but I am here — like the 
great Georgian I have quoted — the friend and the firm friend 
of the South, its institutions, its peace and its prosperity. 

" No people is strong enough to disregard the opinion of the 
civilized world. There is a moral sentiment which, sooner or 
later, will always develop into sympathy or aversion and which 
it is unwise to ignore and dangerous to set at defiance in 
revolutionary contests. There seems to be, Mr. President, a 
growing confidence at the South in the practical value at this 
time of English sympathy, as evidenced by the somewhat 
blatant endorsements of secession and declarations of love 
for Southern institutions, by many English consuls in our 
Southern ports, who, with their friends at home, were ever 
ready, formerly, to condemn in no measured terms the in- 
stitution of slavery as a blot on our civilization. Now jealousy 
of the progress of America may have excited in England a 
desire to promote civil war in this country ; but it should be 
borne in mind that the English Government has been admon- 
ished by two contests that English sympathy with secession 
must be moral only. 

" In the contest of the colonies for independence, the rights 
of a continent were at stake ; a continent then ruled by a des- 
potic administration three thousand miles away across the 
ocean, and by a government whose form was out of harmony 
with the feelings and interest of the colonies. The present 
menace of secession can surely find no moral justification in 
the doctrines of Jefferson as expressed in the famous Decla- 
ration of Independence which was so carefully guarded in 
language as to attract the sympathy of the world to its appeal 
for justice against monarchical tyranny. Has it never occurred 
to you, Mr. President, that each State and each individual of 
each State, has a valuable vested right in this Union ? The 
dignity of citizenship in a great and powerful nation is too 
precious a thing to be relinquished readily. The idolized flag 



THE MONTGOMERY ADDRESS 157 

of our country cannot be deprived of a single star of its 
galaxy, without the practical extermination of the race which 
fought at Lexington, Bunker Hill, Cowpens, New Orleans 
and Mexico. The inspiration of that flag was not without its 
influence upon your own gallant conduct while leading the 
troops of your country to victory as the hero of Buena Vista. 
That patriotic Southern anthem, the ' Star Spangled Banner,' 
which nerved your courage and that of the brave men with 
you is as potent to-day for the defense of the Union against 
domestic enemies as it was in 1812 when our Southern poet, 
Key, witnessed the triumph of the flag over our foreign in- 
vaders at Baltimore, and when Southern and Northern soldiers 
fought under its folds in Mexico. 

" Mark my words, Mr. President, this will not be a war 
waged by the government against the States nor against State 
Rights, nor, as alleged, against slavery ; but for the defense 
of the integrity of the Union, of its flag and of its govern- 
ment, against armed individuals organized for their destruc- 
tion. 

" Ex-President Tyler, commenting in March. 1855, on the 
Force Bill of President Jackson's administration, said : — ' In 
difference of opinion that may and will spring up between 
the States, the last counselor should be the pride of power, 
and the last mediator should be force. Rome in her day of 
power claimed to be mistress of the world, and Alexander 
the Great wept that he had no more worlds to conquer ; and 
yet neither the one nor the other looked down from their 
height of power upon possessions more extensive or more fer- 
tile than those which we enjoy. I mention these things, not 
in a spirit of vain boasting, but for a far different and more in- 
teresting purpose. It is to induce a still deeper impression of 
love and veneration for our political institutions, by exhibit- 
ing our country' as it was and is and will be, if we are true 
to the great trust committed to our hands. I will give no 
audience to those dark prophets who profess to foretell a dis- 
solution of the Union. I would bid them back to their gloomy 
cells to await until the dav shall come, which I trust will 



iS8 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

assuredly come, when this great Republic shall have reached 
the fullness of its glory. I will not adopt the belief that a 
people, so favored by heaven, will most wickedly and foolishly 
throw away a pearl richer than all their tribe. No, when I 
open the Book of the Sybils, there is unfolded to my sight in 
characters bright, resplendent and glorious, and depicting the 
American Confederacy in the distant future shining with in- 
creased splendor, the paragon of governments, the exemplar 
of the world. Leave me, for the remnant of my days, the 
belief that the government and institutions handed down to 
us by our fathers, are to be the rich legacy of our children and 
our children's children to the latest generation. Keep at a 
distance from me, that gaunt and horrible form which is en- 
gendered in folly and nurtured in faction, which slakes its 
thirst in the tears of broken hearts, and appeases its appetite 
in the blasted hopes of mankind.' This, Mr. President, is 
the eloquent rendering of the prophetic fears of an honored 
and trusted Southern statesman, which strikes a responsive 
chord to-day in the hearts of thousands of Southern, as well 
as Northern, patriots who confide in you and look to you in 
this extremity to save the country from the bloody ordeal of 
impending civil war. 

" That grand old statesman, Henry Clay of Kentucky (the 
compeer of Calhoun and Webster) read a lecture to the 
United States Senate in 1832 on the proposed Nullification of 
South Carolina and its dangers which is emphatically of value 
as against Secession in 1861. 

" He said : — ' Entertaining these deliberate opinions, I would 
entreat the patriotic people of South Carolina to pause — 
solemnly pause and contemplate the frightful precipice which 
lies before them. To retreat may be painful and mortifying 
to their gallantry and pride, but it is a retreat into the Union — - 
to safety and to those brethren with whom or with whose 
ancestors they or their ancestors have won on fields of glory 
imperishable renown. 

" ' To advance is to run into incurable disgrace and destruc- 
tion. ... If there be anv who want civil war, who want to 



THE MONTGOMERY ADDRESS 159 

see the blood of any portion of our countrymen spilt, I am 
not one of them. I wish to see a war of no kind, but, above 
all, I do not desire to see a civil war. When war begins, 
whether civil or foreign, no human sight is competent to fore- 
see when or how or where it is to terminate. But when a 
civil war shall be lighted up in the bosom of our land and 
armies are marching and commanders are winning their vic- 
tories and fleets are in motion on our coasts, tell me — if you 
can — tell me — if any human being can — of its duration. God 
alone knows where such a war would end. In what a state 
will our institutions be left? In what a state our liberties? 
I want no war. Above all, no war at home. Sir, I repeat that 
I think South Carolina has been rash, intemperate and greatly 
in the wrong, but I do not want to disgrace her nor any other 
member of the Union. No, I do not desire to see the luster 
of one single star dimmed of the glorious confederacy which 
constitutes our political sun. Still less do I wish to see the 
Union blotted out and its light extinguished forever.' 

" It appears to me, Mr. President, that, in case of an armed 
conflict, genuine statesmen like yourself will find it difficult 
in your cooler moments to reconcile some of the features of 
this situation. The South will not be confronted in the field 
by the Abolition fanatics of the North, who, with Wendell 
Philips at their head, openly profess a desire to divide the 
Union in behalf of emancipation, and who have labored for 
many years, by sowing discord and by the machinery of the 
^ Under Ground Railroad,' to fire the Southern heart against 
the Union. You have ranged yourself with your enemies, 
Mr. President. These Abolition fanatics will not meet you 
in battle. Talking is safer than fighting. Besides, secession 
furthers their dis-union plans and is, in their view, highly ef- 
fectual for emancipation. On the contrary, your swords will 
be drawn against your best friends, the friends who for years, 
have disinterestedly and gallantly defended your institutions 
and your good name against your political and sectional ad- 
versaries, the friends who love the Union, the flag and the 
Constitution of their fathers and your fathers. 



i6o REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

" There will be no compromise with Secession if war is 
forced upon the North. I know the people there thoroughly. 
The love of the Union is a deep sentiment with them, which 
will over-ride every other impulse and interest when their 
patriotism is aroused. 

" Mr. President, you must not be deceived by the indignant 
and rather hasty threats made by our Northern Democrats, 
because of attempted infringements of Southern rights. The 
Democratic Mayor of New York, Mr. Wood, to whom you 
refer me, is my valued friend, and one of the foremost friends 
of the South. He is a man of great energy and intense loyalty 
to the Federal Constitution and the Union. The remark of 
Mayor Wood you quote as favoring the secession of the city 
of New York, is nothing but a partisan threat, like Horace 
Greeley's editorial headed, ' Tear down that flaunting rag.' 
Neither of these political leaders is prepared to act or coun- 
tenance what his ill-considered and revolutionary words im- 
ply. The first armed demonstration against the integrity of 
the Union or the dignity of the flag will find these antagonis- 
tic partisans enrolled in the same patriotic ranks for the de- 
fense of both. 

" I make no appeal to fear in talking to Southern men whom 
I know to be incapable of that feeling. Southern men are 
moved by the opposite impulse, and are too likely to be rash 
in the presence of danger. But I desire to appeal to their 
cooler judgment. It is, in my opinion, to be regretted that 
the able and distinguished statesmen enlisted in the secession 
movement give no consideration to the possible (and as I 
think the inevitable) consequences to Southern life and prop- 
erty of a revolt against a powerful Government which is 
backed by an almost fanatical love of the flag and of the 
Union. 

" The American public will never consent to recognize with- 
out a bloody struggle, fearful to contemplate, a political or- 
ganization which would overthrow the substantial government 
of a contented and prosperous people. It is a grave mis- 
fortune, that in this sectional and political controversy each 



THE MONTGOMERY ADDRESS i6i 

side undervalues the other. The Anglo-Saxon (for or against 
government) in Europe or America, North or South, has 
never been found wanting in arms. He may be, at times, 
rather indifferent to military glory, but in the long run he is 
a terrible adversary. The South, with its impulsiveness, its 
gallantry and military training and traditions will rush to the 
conflict early and eagerly. The North, more given to industry 
and peaceful enterprises, will enter the field slowly, and with 
less enthusiasm. But in time the North's fervent love of the 
Union and profound reverence for the flag will make heroes 
of the most stolid Yankees in New England. 

" We may despise Puritanism in politics and in religion, 
but the Puritan is not to be undervalued as an antagonist in 
business or in warfare. Hume, the English historian, tells 
us that while ' it [Puritanism] is a sect whose principles appear 
so frivolous and whose habits so ridiculous, yet the English 
owe to it the whole freedom of their Constitution.' 

" Mr. President, under modern Christian civilization, civil 
or foreign war is not encouraged as a mere occasion for the 
display of military gallantry or prowess. In this age, war 
against a lawfully constituted government can only be justi- 
fied and enlist the support of even the most prominent advo- 
cates of the right of revolution after peaceful, reformatory 
measures have been tried and failed ; and even then such a 
war must be able to offer a reasonable hope of success. In 
the present case there is no grievance which justifies the re- 
sort to such a desperate course. 

" Permit me. Sir, in closing to impress you with my fears. 
Many of the friends of the South at the North, with whom I 
am intimate, have but little sympathy with slavery, and re- 
gret its existence in the country. They defend it, however, 
loyally and eiifectively as a vested right of the South, guaran- 
teed by the Constitution. But a civil war threatening the 
rupture of a free government admitted to be the best under the 
sun, — a rupture for the purpose of founding a government 
based avowedlv on slavery. — can hardly hope for the sympathy 
of foreign peoples, even if success should be achieved. 



i62 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

" Civil war for the destruction of the Union will bring 
every man at the North, irrespective of his party or sec- 
tional affiliations, to the support of the government and the 
flag of his country. If conciliation now fails to protect the 
Union, the coldest Northerner will lay aside his profitable 
enterprises and will enter the army in defense of the suprem- 
acy of the government and of its laws. In this unequal 
contest, the South must not only suffer in blood and treasure, 
but the institution of slavery, as the underlying cause of the 
war, will, I fear, fall a sacrifice to the resentment of the vic- 
tors. Many of us are derided as Union-savers at the South, 
and at the North; but we are not disposed to be diverted in 
that manner from the duties and responsibilities of citizenship. 
We are not prepared to welcome that deplorable state of 
affairs which the prophetic pen of Washington, in his Fare- 
well Address, sought to guard against. The peculiar adapta- 
bility of this Farewell Address to the present exigency 
impels me to quote one or two paragraphs of its prophetic 
portions : 

" ' In contemplating the causes that may disturb our Union, 
it occurs as a matter of serious concern that any ground should 
have been furnished for characterizing parties by geograph- 
ical discriminations, Northern or Southern, Atlantic or West- 
em, whence designing men may endeavor to excite a belief 
that there is a real difference in local interests and views. 
. . . This government, the offspring of our own choice 
uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation 
and mature deliberation, completely free in its principles, in 
the distribution of its powers, uniting security with energy, 
and containing within itself a provision for its own amend- 
ment, has a just claim to your confidence and your support. 
Respect for its authority, compliance with its laws, acquies- 
cence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundamental 
maxims of true liberty. The basis of our political system is 
the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions 
of government ; but the constitution which at any time ex- 
ists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole 



THE MONTGOMERY ADDRESS 163 

people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of power 
and the right of the people to establish government presup- 
poses the duty of every individual to obey the established 
government.' 

" Mr. President, let me speak plainly. Self preservation is 
an inherent and vital law of national as well as of State or 
individual economy. To take from the nation by secession 
one third of its domain, one third of its possessions, one third 
of its material and productive wealth and one third of its 
power to defend itself against foreign aggression — ^thereby 
impairing its dignity and depriving it of its proud position 
among the nations of the earth — seems to me to be a dream of 
madness. It will never be permitted so long as there is a 
loyal arm to defend the great heritage we have received from 
our fathers. 

" I am not prepared to believe, Mr. President, that a states- 
man of your mature capacity and unquestionable patriotism, 
who has rendered distinguished services to our country in the 
Cabinet, in the Senate and in the Army can ever be induced 
to sully your fair fame by participating in the fratricidal war 
which secession now proposes." 

At the close of my remarks — to which the President, a 
portion of his Cabinet and a large audience had listened 
patiently — the President came forward and, shaking me by the 
hand in the most cordial manner, invited me to an evening 
party at his residence. 

While in Montgomery I sent another letter to the New 
York Journal of Commerce, as follows: 

" I have met the leading men of the Confederate Adminis- 
tration socially as well as publicly. Most of them have a 
national reputation and all of them are statesmen of unques- 
tioned ability and of great probity, whose public and private 
characters — secession apart — are above reproach. Indeed, 
the cordial reception given to this new government is at- 
tributable to the good repute and fitness of its members. They 



i64 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

appear to have dispelled all misgivings on the part of those 
who, at first, were not in sympathy with secession. 

" The President is a small-sized, thoughtful-looking gentle- 
man, neatly dressed in a full suit of grey domestic cloth. His 
manners are simple yet dignified, and his greeting cordial, 
but quiet. He talked with me informally on the political as- 
pect of the times and the peculiar relations of the two con- 
federacies, with a degree of openness and a freedom from 
partisan views which proclaim the statesman. Indeed, he 
spoke with the frankness of the soldier rather than in the con- 
strained manner of the diplomatist. While deploring the pos- 
sibility of hostilities between the North and the South, and 
admitting the folly of an appeal to arms to settle controverted 
questions of government in this civilized age and country, 
nothing escaped him reflecting in the least on the North, 
or the Administration, or bringing into notice the powerful 
military organization which his genius and popularity as a 
military chieftain were gathering around him. His whole tone 
during our interview seemed to be one of regret that the per- 
sistent fanaticism of the North should have estranged two 
sections which were, in most respects, congenial to each other. 

" I have had interesting interviews with members of the 
Cabinet, whose uprightness and conservative statesmanship 
commend them to persons on both sides of the unfortunate 
controversy. To their prudence in seconding the moderation 
of President Davis, we are indebted for the existing peaceful 
relations of the two sections. I am told on good authority 
that Mr. Toombs, the Secretary of State, at first declined the 
appointment, because of modest misgivings regarding his fitness 
for a post requiring constant watchfulness and self restraint, 
while he was, in his own belief, impulsive by habit and constitu- 
tion. He was finally induced to accept, however, by Mr. Ste- 
phens and other friends who appreciated his administrative 
ability. Everyone is surprised to find this impulsive and ready 
debater now one of the most cautious men of the Administra- 
tion. In a Cabinet meeting he opposed firing on Fort Sumter 
as an unnecessary beginning of war by the South. ' The firing 



THE MONTGOMERY ADDRESS 165 

on that Fort,' said Toombs, ' will inaugurate a civil war greater 
than any the world has ever seen. You will wantonly strike 
a hornet's nest which extends from ocean to ocean and legions, 
now quiet, will swarm out and sting us to death. To put our- 
selves in the wrong will be fatal.' 

" My friend, Mr. Memminger, the able Secretary of the 
Treasury, is considered the best appointment of the Cabinet, 
by reason of his peculiar fitness for the arduous and perplex- 
ing duties of that position. 

" He is a thoroughly educated political economist and finan- 
cier who has a vast fund of practical knowledge derived 
from a long career as a commercial lawyer in Charleston, and 
as chairman of the Finance Committee of the South Carolina 
Legislature. He has a matchless faculty for stating clearly 
the most intricate mathematical problems, an invaluable quality 
in a financial negotiator. He will make his mark, I am 
sure, as the financier of this new government, and his high 
personal character is doing much for the popularity of the 
present $5,000,000 loan which I understand will be greatly 
over-subscribed at par. 

" It may be interesting to you to know — a fact which re- 
flects great credit on the social and political conditions of the 
South — that two of the most prominent members of the Con- 
federate administration are self-made men, orphans brought 
up by charity. Mr. Memminger was educated at an Asylum 
in Charleston, and Mr. Stephens by a society of ladies at 
Augusta. 

" Yours truly, 

" Richard Lathers." 

From Montgomery I proceeded to Mobile, Alabama, in 
response to an invitation from the Chamber of Commerce 
of that community, with which I had a large business connec- 
tion. The principal journal of Mobile rebuked editorially, 
on my arrival, the attitude of unfriendliness towards me 
which some of the extreme secessionists there were begin- 
ning to show. Among other things it said : 



i66 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

" Whether we agree with Col. Lathers' opinions or not 
we should be guilty of unpardonable discourtesy and ingrati- 
tude to our friends at the North in treating their messenger 
and our well-known friend with hostility. We hope, therefore, 
that Col. Lathers and his fraternal message will be received 
with the same friendly consideration as marked the reception 
of his address before the Executive at Montgomery." 

The meeting at the Chamber of Commerce was crowded 
by the merchants and leading citizens of the place. The 
Chairman, Mr. Walker (who afterwards ranked high in the 
Confederacy), presented me to my social acquaintances and 
business correspondents as the bearer of a fraternal message 
from the friends of the South in the City and State of New 
York. In concluding, he said : — " There can be no doubt as 
to the genuineness of the friendship of Col. Lathers or of that 
of the Northerners who have sent him here in behalf of the 
Union which they claim is the true and only permanent sup- 
port of our peculiar institution, slavery, against Northern 
fanaticism or foreign interference. The right of free dis- 
cussion is not to be restricted by any Southern community 
and whosoever comes before us with friendly zeal is to be 
listened to with thoughtful respect. Gentlemen, I have the 
pleasure of introducing to you Colonel Richard Lathers coming 
to us with an ' Address ' which he will read to you and sup- 
plement by a few timely remarks from his mercantile stand- 
point on the mutual rights and duties of American Citizen- 
ship and the value of a united country to commerce." 

I then read the New York " Address " to an attentive audi- 
ence and had just begun my personal remarks when suddenly 
a great movement occured. News had been received that Fort 
Sumter had been fired upon and the War of Secession thereby 
opened. Since this rendered further discourse useless, the 
meeting was at once closed with a vote of thanks to the 
speaker. 

After enjoying for a day or two the hospitality of my friends 
in Mobile, I visited New Orleans in response to an invitation 



THE MONTGOAIERY ADDRESS 167 

from the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce to address that 
body on the issues of the day and their effect on trade. 

While I was at breakfast at the St. Charles Hotel, the card 
of the Mayor of the city was sent in to me. I hurried to the 
reception room, and, supposing the Mayor had come on a 
social call, began to thank him for his early courtesy. He 
smiled rather grimly at this remark, and replied : " You will 
probably not appreciate my early visit so highly when I in- 
form you that you must leave the city at once as an alien 
enemy " (a new coinage of the times at the South). I replied: 
" I have come here on a special invitation to address your 
Chamber of Commerce and for no sinister or illegal purpose." 
He responded : " We will not discuss the motives or propriety 
of your visit. After the capture of Fort Sumter, the first vic- 
tory of the Confederate States, it ought to occur to such an 
intelligent gentleman as yourself that the discussions you re- 
fer to are clearly out of place. You would be mobbed should 
you remain. There is a train going West at two o'clock and 
you must be aboard." His manner was all that courtesy could 
desire, but was marked by a firmness which rendered further 
discussion useless. 

By traveling night and day through a most disturbed region 
crazy with enthusiasm, I reached New York just in time to 
witness the effect there of the opening of the Civil War. 



CHAPTER VII 

IN WAR TIME 

I FOUND New York in a state of the most intense excite- 
ment. The great Union meeting had been held in Union 
Square, where the speeches were of a highly stirring character, 
some of the most declamatory being delivered by public men 
whose loyalty may have needed such asseveration. Flags 
floated from every housetop ; cockades were worn by every 
one. Democracy was at a discount and Republicanism in the 
ascendant. The Chamber of Commerce had convened and ap- 
pointed the Union Defense Committee, of which General Dix 
was named chairman. Military organizations were every- 
where the fashion, one of the first regiments being prepared by 
Tammany Hall. Corporations and merchants not only sub- 
scribed freely to the military fund, but promised their em- 
ployees who enlisted that their places would be kept open for 
them until their return ; for, at that enthusiastic period, sixty 
days was considered more than ample for imposing peace. 
Secretary Seward encouraged this view which he held and 
expressed with great consistency for several years, even, it is 
said, in his diplomatic correspondence. Of course, those who 
were connected with corporate institutions, as I was, while 
ready to support every effort to save the Union by conquering 
a peace, could not fully share the popular enthusiasm for civil 
war. It was well said by a wit of the time that such was the 
patriotism of certain eminent loyal gentlemen that they were 
ready to send all their nephews and brothers-in-law into the 
field. " The old flag and an appropriation," became the watch- 
word of many a soldier of fortune who was careful to keep 
away from the front. It was about this time that the term 
loyal assumed a meaning hitherto unknown to lexicographers. 
The loyal citizen, it was currently said, was a citizen in pur- 

168 



IN WAR TIME 169 

■s.. 
suit of a government contract, and the truly loyal, the citizen " 

who obtained one. Owners of vessels who had offered to 
supply the Confederacy with tonnage (to my certain knowl- 
edge, since some of them had approached me in the hope I 
would exert my influence in their behalf) were now to be found 
among the most blatant loyalists. Probably these speculators, 
knowing the unseaworthiness of their vessels, salved their con- 
sciences with the reflection that they would be helping the 
Union cause by cheating the rebels. 

Many persons were openly accused of disloyalty, however, 
who were thoroughly loyal, as I have only too good reason to 
know. At the very moment I was doing my utmost in the 
South to save the Union, I was being violently assailed by 
several New York papers for antagonism to the Union. Four 
days before my return to New York from my Southern mis- 
sion, the Evening Post contained the following: 

" There are men among us who scruple as little to co-operate 
with the ring-leaders of the Southern rebellion, as if treason 
were as innocent a matter as the buying and selling of stocks. 
They have been emboldened by the general forbearance and 
by the example of more conspicuous villains than themselves 
who have escaped punishment. It is quite time that these per- 
sons should learn that there is a limit to the patience both of 
the American community and of the American government. It 
is time that they should be taught the lesson that treason is 
unsafe, and that the path they have chosen may lead to the 
prison and the gibbet. 

" Yet there are other methods by which these audacious tools 
of sedition may be put down, without resorting to the arm of 
the law. Men who conspire with the enemy and give aid and 
encouragement to rebellion should be made to feel that they 
are shouldering a weight of infamy which will sink them to 
the earth. They should be thrust out of all places of trust ; 
they should be made to see that they have lost the respect and 
confidence of their fellow citizens. Presidents and directors 
of incorporated companies, who are engaged in these plots 



170 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

1 against the public order of the country which gives them its 
protection, should be summarily deprived of their places. 
Nothing but the most absolute penitence and positive con- 
version to better views and open recantation of his errors, 
should save such a man as Mr. Richard Lathers, the president 
of the Great Western Marine Insurance Company, who, a 
little while since, was boasting of his ardent loyalty to South 
Carolina, and his readiness to attach himself to her fortunes, 
from immediate deposition. Let such men be made to under- 
stand that the opportunity is open for them to take up their 
line of march to the seceding States and enroll themselves with 
the insurgents. 

" Hitherto there has been no limit to the forbearance and 
indulgence of the Northern people. Treason has swaggered in 
our streets and bragged in our public meetings unchecked, 
but this must be endured no longer. What should be the fate 
of the emissaries whom the South sends among us, and the 
Northern men whom she bribes to act as her agents in the 
guilty work now begun, may deserve some consideration. It 
is certainly better that they should be drummed out of our 
borders and sent among the rebels, where they can do no harm, 
than that they should be caught and hanged. Our only 
scruple in this matter would arise from the danger that when 
the course of legal proceeding is once departed from, and irreg- 
ular modes of compulsion substituted, there is no knowing 
where the people will stop. Their anger once unchained, and 
bursting from the ordinary restraints which the law imposes, 
is like the whirlwind let loose to destroy. In what has already 
happened, both at Philadelphia and here, the tools of treason 
on this side of the Potomac have received a warning to beware 
of provoking its excesses." 

This and a number of articles of similar purport in other 
papers, to which my attention was called on my arrival, im- 
pelled me to send at once to all the principal papers of the city 
the followinar communication : 



IN WAR TIME 171 

"New York, Sunday Evening, April 21, 1861. 

" To the Editors: — I return to-day after an absence of 
over two months from the city on the business of the Company 
over which I preside. To my surprise I learn that my some- 
what active efforts last winter to bring about a reconciliation 
in our federal relations, in co-operation with patriotic citizens 
of our State, have been misinterpreted as favoring secession. 
I am, and always have been, a devoted lover of our glorious 
Union, and, as such, shall continue to support the government 
under which I live, and sustain and defend the flag which pro- 
tects my property and the lives of myself and my family. 

" In these times of public danger perhaps the position of 
every citizen should be known, and I take the earliest oppor- 
tunity to declare mine, which I understand has been called for 
by your journal during my absence. 

" Very respectfully, 

" Richard Lathers." 

This public declaration, unequivocal as it was, did not stop 
the flow of abuse. The press kept up its attacks upon me,' and 
I received scores of threatening letters of which the three fol- 
lowing are fair samples: 

" New York, April 23, 1861. 
" Mr. Richard Lathers : 

"Sir: — I am surprised to see the contemptible lie over your 
name in your cowardly, craven, fear-compelled letter in the 
IVorld this morning. There is abundant proof that you have 
talked Secession at the South, in the city of Savannah, within 
two months. You know this, and you know your letter this 
morning is a lie, and not wishing to see you swing as a traitor, 
as I fear you will unless you make tracks very soon, I give 
you this friendly hint. 

" Traitors cannot live in this atmosphere. A word to the 
wise is sufficient. 

" Death to Traitors.'' 



172 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

/ "GOD AND THE UNION. 

/ " Headquarters of the Union Vigilance Committee, 

" New York, Apr., 1861. 
" Richard Lathers, Esq : 

" Sir: — As a person favoring Traitors to the Union, you 

are notified that your name is recorded on the Secret List of 

this Association ; your movements being strictly watched ; and 

■ that unless you openly declare your adherence to the Union, 

you will be dealt with as a TRAITOR ! 

" By order, 

" 33, Secretary." 

"New York May 15 1861. 
" Mr. Richard Lathers, 

" Great Western Ins. Co., New York. 
" Sir: — It is generally believed that you are a damned Se- 
cessionist this is to inform you that unless you give the public 
better proof of your fidelity to the government than you have 
already done, you will be waited upon by a committee who 
will see that you are rightly delt by. Your accursed treason 
doctrines and South Carolina sympathies will not do for this 
lattitude just now. 

" Yours truly, 

" Watchman." 

These charges of disloyalty did not prevent my receiving 
innumerable appeals for financial and other help in the work 
of vindicating the supremacy of the Union, and my responses 
to these appeals were so prompt and hearty that long before 
the close of the War the most relentless of my accusers were 
fain to admit that they had done me grievous wrong. 

It was my pleasure and privilege to contribute to the various 
funds for the equipment of New York volunteers ; to help to 
organize the Pierrepont Rifles ; to serve on the Executive Com- 
mittee of citizens appointed by the Y. M. C. A. to aid in fitting 



IN WAR TIME 173 

out the "Ironsides Regiment"; to replace with fresh colors 
the old war-worn flags of the Irish Brigade ; to appeal to the 
Common Council for a proper appropriation for the defense 
of the city ; to draw up and secure the signatures of prominent 
financiers and merchants to a memorial to Governor Morgan 
praying for the organization of a local artillery battalion for 
the protection of the harbor — matters which I should not 
think of mentioning had not my loyalty been called in ques- 
tion in the brutal manner already described. 

President Lincoln wisely disregarded party politics by calling 
into his Cabinet the great Democratic statesmen, Edwin M. 
Stanton and Salmon P. Chase as Secretary of War and Sec- 
retary of the Treasury, respectively. 

Secretary Chase was the inventor of wonderful financial 
schemes which supplied the Treasury with funds in spite of 
the derangement of business by the War. 

Secretary Stanton (to whom I was introduced by Edwards 
Pierrepont, subsequently Minister to Great Britain), by his 
firm, hopeful, and untiring devotion to the perplexing duties of 
the War Department under the most trying circumstances 
inspired the public with the confidence it needed. His very 
despotism was an element of power highly conducive to dis- 
cipline while the Army was being organized. I remember an in- 
cident in illustration of this. As I was calling upon Secretary 
Stanton on political business a veteran field officer entered the 
room. Stanton at once recognized him and accosted him in the 
most peremptory manner with, " What are you doing here? " 
The officer in a highly respectful tone informed him that his 
command being near his residence, he was anxious to see his 
family after a prolonged absence from them, and that he had 
stopped en route to pay his respects to the Secretary of War. 
" You have chosen a most untimely occasion for the com- 
pliment," said Stanton. " Your place at this time is at the front. 
Your country, your family, and myself will best be served if 
you will return to your command and give your attention to 
the rebel army." 



174 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

Secretary Chase was also capable of being severe upon oc- 
casion, but even when he was the most severe there was no 
brusqueness in his manner. 

One morning, while I was seated with him in the Treasury 
building in Washington, the Cashier of the Bank of Commerce 
of New York, Mr. Vail, came in, and, after shaking hands 
with us, said, " I have this moment arrived in Washington on 
a mission to you, Mr. Secretary. The banks will be compelled 
to suspend to-morrow, and they desire that the Treasury should 
suspend to-day, so that the banks, by following the Government, 
may have a popular excuse to do that which is inevitable to 
both.'' Mr. Chase, in his soft way, replied, " Why should the 
Treasury suspend while your banks contain so much of the 
Government money? The Treasury has gold enough in your 
vaults to distance, at least for the present, any claims now 
pressing ; and the Government is properly as anxious to throw 
the onus of suspension where its deposits lie, as you are to shift 
the responsibility. The fact is, Mr. Cashier, the banks of New 
York as well as the Treasury of the United States must sus- 
pend for want of the coin, and it is no use to attempt to shift 
a common evil.'' 

The cashier returned to his bank a wiser, if not a richer, man, 
and the people cared little which of their repositories stopped 
payment first. 

In the early stages of the War, before the financial policy 
of the Treasury was placed on a sound basis. Secretary Chase 
was almost constantly in communication with the financial 
corporations and banks of New York through the popular and 
energetic financier, Mr. John J. Cisco, then Sub-Treasurer. As 
President of the Great Western Insurance Company, I was 
invited by Mr. Chase to a meeting summoned to discuss the 
matter of aiding the Treasury by subscriptions to a loan. As 
I was at that time young and relatively inexperienced in bank- 
ing, I called on my experienced and wealthy banking friends 
to inform myself as to their views on the delicate matter of 
naming a rate for the bonds ; for I had observed that in finan- 
cial discussions such opinions (and this is as true to-day 



IN WAR TIME 175 

as it was then) far outweighed the most cogent arguments of 
the younger and less wealthy participants. 

The meeting assembled in the American Exchange Bank, 
and was presided over by Mr. Stevens, the President of the 
$10,000,000 Bank of Commerce, who rose and with his usual 
dignity read the letter of Secretary Chase and commended it 
to the serious consideration of the financiers present. Then, 
resuming his seat, he remarked that the Chair was ready to 
entertain any proposition which the occasion called for. A 
most profound and rather painful silence followed. The Presi- 
dent, who was one of those with whom I had consulted just 
before the meeting, looked over to me in an encouraging man- 
ner. So I rose and said, " Mr. President and Gentlemen : You 
may not all know that young as I appear I am a military vet- 
eran, having been in command of a militia regiment in time 
of peace, and, while never mastering the tactics of war, I be- 
came familiar through my observation of courts-martial with 
a courteous and useful manner of dealing with knotty ques- 
tions, which I propose to ask this body of financiers to per- 
mit ; namely, that the youngest and least important member 
give his opinion first, because, if wise, it is quite easy to adopt 
it, and if defective, no one will hesitate to differ with a fledg- 
ling. This is my reason for breaking the silence created by 
the modesty of my seniors. Gentlemen, we represent, it is 
true, corporations organized for mercantile purposes, the cap- 
ital of which might be put to a more profitable use than the 
purchase of Government bonds ; but when the nation is in 
the midst of a civil war which imperils the enterprises in which 
we are interested, there can be no question that our duty to 
our stockholders and our duty to our country coincide. The 
real question with regard to this departure from our ordinary 
business is not one of profit but of the limit of safety. If we 
bid for a larger sum than can be safely spared from our capital, 
or at a rate which the bond market will not justify, we not 
only hamper ourselves but render ourselves unable to give 
further assistance to the Treasury when needed. The fact 
is, our monied corporations virtually stand between the govern- 



176 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

ment Treasury and the private purse. It, therefore, becomes 
essential that we neither bid too low, which will impair the 
credit of the Government, nor too high, which will repel pri- 
vate investors and prevent them from relieving us of a loan 
somewhat larger than we can permanently carry." 

The President then said jocularly, " It is but justice to our 
military veteran to say that his financial views so modestly 
put, are unusually practical ; and now will he name the figure 
which he thinks will meet the two contingencies he properly 
refers to?'' Being armed by my private interviews with the 
President and other conservative patriots present, I named 
the figure as about 92. This brought to his feet an over-zeal- 
ous, inexperienced young banker, who, extending his arms 
dramatically, declared that his " right arm might wither and 
his tongue cleave to the top of his mouth " before he would 
second such a degradation of the public credit as oflfering less 
than par for government bonds. I replied that it afforded 
me much gratification to be associated with so loyal a citizen 
and so liberal a financier. " Will the gentleman tell the meet- 
ing what sum he proposes to subscribe at par, as the practical 
proof of his loyalty ? " He named the ridiculously small sum 
of $20,000. Now, as everyone else there expected to take from 
$100,000 to $500,000, it will be perceived that when money is 
at stake, zeal without knowledge, and without capital, should 
at least be modest. 

During this meeting a telegram was received in Washington 
that the whole loan would be taken by the Boston banks ; but 
it turned out afterwards that the Boston bid was only a loyal 
bid like that of our immature colleague, zealous but impotent ; 
and the materializing of the cash had to be effected by the New 
York banks in the end. 

In the summer of 1862 a number of conservative Demo- 
crats, of whom I was one, were urging the nomination of Gen. 
Dix for the Governorship of New York. We encountered 
much opposition, however, because many believed or assumed 
to believe that Gen. Dix had gone over to the Republican 
party. The following letter from the editor of the Journal 
of Commerce, W. C. Prime, explains the situation: 



IN WAR TIME 177 

" New York, Aug. 20th, 1862. 

" Dear Sir: — What I intended to say to you was this : the 
convention is at hand. The probable nomination for Governor 
is in the dark. Seymour is the favorite — far ahead of anyone. 
General Dix's prospects are nowhere now. The reason is 
plain. The General is most highly respected by the Democrats 
of New York. Some of us who do not know him personally 
are thoroughly attached to him as a noble, honest, patriotic 
man. But the Democracy are resolved to nominate only a 
thorough-going Democrat, pledged solemnly to stand on con- 
servative ground against every form of radicalism. Their 
candidate must be an open enemy of Abolitionists. He couldn't 
be elected on any other ground ; besides that, the Democracy 
are now at least if not always, on purely patriotic ground. No 
one cares for office or spoils. No one works to succeed for 
personal or office-holding reasons. It is for the country that 
every man shapes his own political course. We must have a 
Governor who is just as loyal and firm in the support of the 
government and the Union as General Dix. That the Democ- 
racy is determined on. But he must be a man who will stand 
like a rock against the radicalism of the ultra Republicans. 
He must be above suspicion — utterly chaste as the wife of 
Caesar — not to be named in connection with the Northern en- 
emies of the Constitution. This is the controlling sentiment 
of the Democrats here, and I firmly believe they represent a 
large majority in the State. 

" Now the trouble with General Dix is, that he has accepted 
office (not military) from the Republican administration, and 
you know the rank and file of the Democracy here well enough 
to know the effect of such a course on them. It is true there is 
no clear idea that the General has gone over to the Republicans. 
But there is a suspicion, and this is damning. Now whether 
the General is in a position to remove this suspicion by a private 
letter to some friend, taking fair and square conservative and 
Democratic ground, you perhaps know better than I. There 
is no living man I would rather see nominated on a sound 
platform. We all believe him to be a thoroughly honest 
man. If nominated with a distinct conservative reputa- 



178 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

tion, we can elect him by a tremendous majority. If 
nominated , on a doubtful platform, the radicals will carry 
the State. It would be sure success to the Democrats if Gen- 
eral Dix could be their candidate. You have my ideas now, 
hastily but I think clearly expressed. 

" Yours truly, 

"W. C. Prime, 
" Editor N. Y. Journal of Commerce." 

Those of us who knew Gen. Dix intimately knew that he had 
not ceased to be a Democrat ; but to the end of presenting 
clearly and authoritatively to the general public his views and 
desires and of obtaining copies of certain original documents 
corroborating these views and desires, I was appointed to in- 
terview him at Fortress Monroe, where he was then stationed. 

On reaching Washington I found that owing to some mili- 
tary disaster citizens were prohibited from going to Fortress 
Monroe. I called on Mr. Stanton, therefore, and related the 
whole matter to him. He told me candidly that he was 
opposed to the acceptance of a partisan nomination by Gen. 
Dix, but added half jokingly that he would give me a pass on 
condition that I also carry a letter from him to Gen. Dix ad- 
vising him not to become a candidate. I accepted the condi- 
tions and did the two errands. 

The general result of this interview will be gathered from 
a letter which I wrote to Gen. Dix some time after my return 
to New York. 

" Sept. 27th, 1862. 
" M.\joR Genl. John A. Di.\, Fortress Monroe. 

" My dear Sir: — On my return from Fortress Monroe I 
laid before Mr. Prime the copies of your able correspondence, 
giving him as full an explanation of the peculiar and significant 
bearing of each case as I was capable of recalling. With his 
usual penetration, he at once comprehended the delicate nature 
of your official duties — complicated as they were by the vexa- 
tious interference of fanatical demagogues whose pertinacity 



IN WAR TIME 179 

has done much to weaken the influence of the Union element 
in the border States, and to which we may justly attribute most 
of our military disasters. In common with your other friends, 
he took immediate measures by correspondence and otherwise, 
to have your efficient and patriotic service, and your connec- 
tion with the Administration, fully understood and correctly 
appreciated. He commended in the highest degree the vigor- 
ous and statesman-like paper which your military administra- 
tion had produced, and which he regretted he could not be 
permitted to publish. In co-operation with your friends Judge 
Pierpont, Judge Barber, Mayor Baldwin, Wilson G. Hunt, and 
State Senator McMurray, a meeting of a few of the leading 
conservatives of the city was held at the house of Senator 
McMurray, where I gave a general account of my very satis- 
factory interview with you, and a full explanation of the sub- 
ject matter of the official correspondence which confirmed them 
in confidence in you. I need not say how intensely satisfactory 
your course was regarded, and how earnestly all desired to 
have your name put before the convention of all parties at the 
coming election for chief magistrate of the State. I also freely 
gave your views as to any use to be made of your name in 
connection with such nomination and your preference for a 
senatorial nomination. It was believed to be too late to bring 
your name prominently before the Convention, as the meeting 
at Albany would convene in a few days, unless it should be 
found that Mr. Seymour's friends would yield without a 
struggle ; it being important as well for your future prospects 
as for the interests of the country that the nominations should 
be as free from controversy as possible. In addition to this I 
explained that you would be unwilling to accept a nomination 
for Governor under a very rigid party organization, especially 
if strongly put in opposition to the Administration, owing to 
the fact that your relations to the Administration, as a military 
official of high rank and responsibility, precluded during a 
time of war the use of your name in such connection as might 
seem antagonistic to the Government. 

" The nomination of Mr. Seymour suits we think all the 



i8o REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

conservative elements of the State, especially against a candi- 
date so extreme as Gen. Wadsworth. Your friends are there- 
fore sanguine that a conservative success this fall will insure 
your election to the United States Senate. 

" How will our friend Mr. Stanton be likely to lean in our 
contest here? Will the right of discussion of the press and of 
individuals be permitted during the canvass? Many intelligent 
and conservative men of both parties fear that the President's 
proclamation No. two, presages arrests for party purposes. Of 
course I do not believe that our country can ever be subjected 
to tyranny of this sort. When such a thing is possible we will 
no longer be a free people. I send you a copy of the Journal of 
Commerce. You will perceive Mr. Prime initiates and favors 
your senatorial canvass and I shall see other members of the 
press to the same end, as we wish to get your name in free use 

in all parts of the State in that connection 

" I am yours very truly, 

" Richard Lathers." 

The refusal of General Dix to have his name considered, 
except as a non-partisan candidate, led to the nomination, with- 
out opposition, of Horatio Seymour, as a typical Union Demo- 
crat. The radical element, fearing his popularity as a 
conservative statesman, who had already served the State as 
its executive, set about to malign him as a rebel sympathizer ; 
and, indeed, it was believed by his friends that an attempt 
would be made to trump up some charge by which he could be 
spirited off to Fort Lafayette by the War Department, as others 
had been. Mr. Emanuel B. Hart (a Sachem of Tammany 
Hall) and I were selected to confer with the candidate es- 
pecially with reference to the speech to be made by him at a 
Democratic ratification meeting to be held in the Academy of 
Music. This conference took place in my private office on Pine 
Street. After a little discussion, we requested the governor 
to read his proposed speech. He replied that he never wrote 
out speeches for such occasions, but he would give us a gen- 
eral idea of what it would be. He then put his hand in his 



IN WAR TIME i8i 

waistcoat pocket and produced a number of slips of paper 
about three inches long and half an inch wide, on each of which 
a sentence was written as a sort of catchword. These slips 
were systematically arranged so that he could easily refer to 
them. He began with slip number one and expanded it, and 
so on till he had made use of all the slips. We listened with 
profound admiration. Mr. Hart then said, " Governor, your 
speech is worthy of a Democratic statesman, and of yourself, 
but we must have a more specific endorsement of the war. 
You and our party are charged with sympathy with the re- 
bellion, and with obstructing the military measures of the 
government. This mendacity is now the only weapon which 
the Republicans can use with effect to influence ignorant voters 
in a contest with a military candidate against you." At our re- 
quest Mr. Seymour then revised certain portions of his speech. 
Mr. Hart admitted that these revisions were important, but 
he insisted that there should be somewhere a sentence for 
popular quotation which could not be perverted. The Gov- 
ernor replied, " I agree with you perfectly, but it is these 
terse and taking sentences which, with all one's care to be 
explicit, are so often perverted or improperly applied, to the 
injury of the speaker or writer." He then picked up one of 
the slips and gave a paragraph which ended with the phrase, 
" The necessity of a vigorous prosecution of the war." This 
was just what we wanted, and it was this sentence which not 
only brought out the cheers of the entire audience at the rally 
in the Academy of Music, but which made his election pos- 
sible. 

At this same Academy of Music rally, a now celebrated 
letter of General Scott was read in public for the first time. 
General Scott had served his country on too many battle- 
fields, and loved the flag and the Union too sincerely to be 
led astray by his secession friends and associates in his State 
of Virginia. Deeply disturbed by the menaces of the dis- 
union elements in Congress and in the South, he had earn- 
estly urged President Buchanan's Secretary of War, and, 
finding him unresponsive. President Buchanan himself, to 



i82 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

garrison the forts in Southern ports ; reminding them that 
it was this sort of precaution that nipped in the bud the rev- 
olutionary movement of 1832 in Charleston, where a naval 
demonstration satisfied the Nullifiers that the Government, 
under President Jackson, had the power to enforce the laws 
of the country, and meant to exercise it. This wise advice, 
as is well known, had been recklessly disregarded. General 
Scott, feeling his responsibility as the Commander of the 
Government forces, determined to make one last desperate ef- 
fort to save the country from a civil war, which he foresaw 
would be long and terrible, by appealing to the incoming Re- 
publican administration. Accordingly, in a letter to Hon. 
W. H. Seward, dated March 3, 1861, he gave his political 
solution of the difficulty, advising substantially the admirable 
Crittenden Compromise. He explained that the putting down 
of the rebellion by force of arms would demand an invading 
army of 300,000 men, and that even such an army could not 
hof)e to be successful in less than two or three years ; that 
after the rebellion was put down the fifteen conquered States 
would have to be held by garrisons — a situation from which 
a military despotism would be likely to result. And he con- 
cluded that it would be better to say to the seceded States, 
" Wayward sisters, go in peace," than to resort to such a 
sacrifice of blood, property, and political liberties to hold 
them. 

John Van Buren, after depicting eloquently and vividly the 
horror of imbruing our hands in the blood of our Southern 
brethren, read this letter in full without naming the writer 
of it in advance. The audience listened intently, speculating 
the while as to who the reckless person so out of sympathy 
with the party in power could be. Finally, when he had 
finished feading, Mr. Van Buren added in his most ringing 
and most emphatic tones, " This is the advice of the loyal 
and venerated Commander of our armies. General Winfield 
Scott ! " 

The effect was electrical. I have witnessed the marvelous 
effects of eloquence in many public meetings, but I never 



IN WAR TIME 183 

witnessed enthusiasm equal to that which this single sentence 
evoked. 

I had the honor of initiating a movement for the presenta- 
tion to Gen. Scott by the New York Chamber of Commerce 
of an equestrian portrait of himself (as the hero of Chapul- 
tapec), by Troze, which had been intended originally for the 
Military Institute of his native State of Virginia, but which 
had been refused by that institution because of Gen. Scott's 
loyalty to the Union. 

While speaking of Gen. Scott, I cannot resist narrating an 
incident of the War of 1812 which I got from Thurlow Weed 
(one of the greatest editors, politicians, and storytellers of 
his time) on one of his visits to the Manhattan Club. 

It appears that near the lines of Scott's command on the 
Canadian border was situated the residence of a wealthy lady, 
a British subject, over which with proper gallantry Scott 
placed guards to prevent damage to the property. The lady, 
in apparent recognition of this courteous protection, invited 
the General and his staff to breakfast with her family and a 
few lady friends. Although not strictly according to military 
discipline to go outside the lines, yet a good breakfast with 
beautiful and cultured ladies was not to be refused by men 
weary of camp fare. The officers were cordially received in 
the drawing room by their fascinating hostess, and after some 
general conversation breakfast was announced. Just as the 
guests were taking their seats at the breakfast table, how- 
ever, one of them returned to the drawing room to get his 
bandanna handkerchief which he had left in his hat — where 
at that time the handkerchief was ordinarily carried instead 
of in the pocket. The hat happened to lie on a stool in a win- 
dow overlooking a clump of shrubbery, in which he perceived 
several redcoats with muskets, evidently waiting in ambush 
a favorable opportunity to capture the American officers. 
Without displaying any alarm he quietly went back to the 
breakfast room and notified his party that they were betrayed, 
whereupon they all jumped out of the window at the back 
of the house, mounted horses which happened to be near, and 



i84 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

escaped, reaching camp just in time to confront the British 
detachment which opened the celebrated battle of Lundy's 
Lane. " I had this story from Gen. Scott himself," said Mr. 
Weed, " and he told me that he made his officers pledge their 
honor never to divulge, while he lived, this violation of dis- 
cipline which was not to be condoned even by the brilliant 
victory of which it was the harbinger if not the origin." 

On this or a similar occasion, Mr. Weed told the following 
anecdote to illustrate the wonderful self-possession of Abra- 
ham Lincoln. I give it as nearly in Mr. Weed's own words 
as my memory permits : " It is well known that Mrs. Lincoln 
had a singular prejudice against anyone who seemed to have 
any influence with her husband. On my first visit to the 
President-elect at Springfield (in behalf of the Republican 
party to urge the selection of Mr. Seward as his Secretary 
of State), I was invited by Mr. Lincoln to stop at his house. 
I accepted, but I soon found that Mrs. Lincoln did not like 
me. Indeed, she was barely polite to me. I was not dis- 
posed, however, to have my mission defeated by the contempt 
of a woman, and I stayed on. One night at supper when sev- 
eral other guests were present, Mr. Lincoln, who was a great 
joker, cracked a joke which displeased Mrs. Lincoln because 
she erroneously imagined it to be at her expense. Quicker 
than a flash she picked up a cup of hot tea and flung it clear 
across the table at Mr. Lincoln's head, then jumped up in 
great fury and rushed out of the room. You can well con- 
ceive the embarrassment of the eight or ten guests. In a 
second, however, Mr. Lincoln, who had only escaped the 
scalding tea by ducking — the cup striking the wall back of him 
and flying into pieces — raised his head with great deliberation 
and remarked very clamly, ' There were two branches of 
the Todd family in Virginia, one celebrated for irascible 
temper, and the other for amiability ; I need not add that I 
married into the amiable branch.' This restored the spirits 
of the company, and inside of one minute conversation was 
in full blast as if nothing had happened." 

In 1862, at a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, Mr. 



IN WAR TIME 185 

C. H. Marshall offered the following Resolution, which was 
unanimously adopted: 

" Whereas, Our commerce with Europe is very much ex- 
posed to the depredations of rebel pirates, there being no armed 
national vessels on that coast at this time. 

" Resolved, That the President of this Chamber be re- 
quested to appoint a committee to draft a respectful memorial 
to the Executive, requesting the speedy despatch of two or 
more armed vessels to that coast for the protection of our 
marine interests, and to present said memorial with as little 
delay as practicable at Washington for a favorable considera- 
tion.'" 

The President of the Chamber named as this committee, 
Messrs. C. H. Marshall (chairman), T. Tileston, and myself. 
Our committee prepared the following Memorial: 

*' To His Excellency, Abrah.am Lincoln, 
" President of the United States : 

" The Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York 
respectfully asks your attention to the necessity which now 
exists for the speedy despatch of armed vessels of the United 
States to the coast of Europe, for the protection of our mer- 
chant marine trading between ports of the loyal States and 
European ports. 

" The destruction, in the English Channel, on the i6th of 
November last, by the rebel steamer Nashville, of the New 
York packet ship Harvey Birch, one of our largest and finest 
carrying vessels, bound from Havre to New York, gives rise 
to apprehensions that similar depredations on our commerce 
will be attempted with equal success, unless the most efficient 
measures for their prevention are taken at once. 

" The apprehensions thus excited have caused a great ad- 
vance in the rate of insurance on both sides of the Atlantic, 
are producing much alarm among shippers and consignees, 
and also causing serious disquiet with regard to the safety 



i86 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

of passengers. It is apparent that the outrages committed 
on the flag and commerce of the United States, hitherto con- 
fined to our own coasts, will be repeated wherever the op- 
portunity occurs, unless promptly checked by the intervention 
of the Government. 

" In behalf of the vast commercial and national interests 
thus imperiled, and to avert the disastrous consequences which 
will follow if the passage of our merchant ships on the great 
highways of European trade is liable to such fatal interrup- 
tions, we respectfully and urgently solicit that you will im- 
mediately cause to be stationed a sufficient number of steam 
vessels oflf the coast of Europe, where our commerce is most 
exposed, to guard against further acts of piracy upon our 
merchant marine, and to punish those who may attempt 
them. 

" By order of the Chamber, 
" E. Perit, President Chamber of Commerce. 

" J. Smith Romans, Secretary." 

In pursuance of the mission confided to us by the Chamber 
of Commerce, our committee went to Washington, where a 
number of the New York State delegation in Congress vol- 
unteered to accompany us on our visit to the President. We 
assembled in the parlor of the Arlington Hotel properlv at- 
tired for so formal a visit, and, marching to the White House 
two by two, entered the ornate reception room. In a few 
minutes President Lincoln appeared, not in official garb as 
we had expected, but shuffling along in two shabby old slippers 
of dimensions overliberal even for his very large feet, and a 
much faded and out-of-shape dressing gown, which satisfied 
us that he intended to feel much at home, irrespective of any 
stiffness we might assume toward the Chief Magistrate of 
the nation. He shook each of us by the hand heartily, and 
taking his seat at the head of a long table invited us to do 
the same, adding, " Tell me your business at once." I then 
submitted the foregoing Memorial to the President, supple- 
menting it by explaining to him that the loyal merchants of 



IN WAR TIME 187 

New York derived their power to aid his administration in 
subduing the rebelhon from the profits and income of foreign 
commerce; that our mission was to ask him to protect this 
important resource of the Government by a few naval vessels, 
for the expense of which underwriters and merchants of the 
city were ready to make a liberal subscription. 

The President seemed to be in full sympathy with my re- 
marks while I was speaking, but when I had closed he made 
me feel cheap enough by saying with a merry twinkle in his 
eye, " Very well put, young man, but the blanket is too short," 
a remark which fell like lightning out of a clear sky upon 
our committee. But the President resumed, " This remark is 
not to apply to your speech, but to the object of it. If you 
should ever sojourn in a tavern at my old home in Spring- 
field, of a cold winter night, you might be put in a room 
without furnace or stove, and if you were tall like myself and 
desired to cover your chest with the blanket you would un- 
cover your feet, and if you desired to protect your feet you 
would then have to uncover your chest. That is the present 
condition of our small navy. If we fully protect the Confed- 
erate harbors from blockade running, we cannot cover the 
China Seas and other distant grounds where the rebel cruisers 
are to be found. But, gentlemen, I am in full sympathy with 
you, and I will postpone the regular meeting of the Cabinet 
for two hours, and I advise you to avail yourselves of the 
opportunity to call on each of the members." 

The committee did as the President advised, and was well 
received by the Cabinet officers, who subsequently discussed 
the matter in their Cabinet meeting; but the President, as in 
all things coming before him, seemed to have had an intuitive 
knowledge of every practical aspect of the case. The blanket 
was really too short, and the Secretary of the Navy had not 
the power to make it longer. 

I commenced my appeal to the Secretary of State, Mr. 
Seward, by saying that, while our committee was impressed 
by the dignity of his high position as the Premier of this great 
nation, we felt on the other hand a special nearness to him 



i88 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

as a citizen of the great State of New York. He stopped me 
at once, and with much majesty said, "No, sir; a citizen of 
the United States." After this exhibition of his doctrinaire 
propensity, however, we found him ready to do everything he 
could to forward the object of our mission. And it may be 
proper here to mention that it was by reason of his requesting 
the underwriters to take great care to provide themselves with 
the fullest legal proofs of the amount of their losses when 
vessels insured by them were captured by the rebels, that 
the claims on Great Britain were able to be properly formu- 
lated and pressed after the war. 

When our formal interview with Secretary Chase was over, 
the Secretary remarked to me that one of our committee had 
informed him that I was an expert bookkeeper as well as an 
underwriter. He would be glad, he said, if I would go with 
him in the morning into the issue department of the Treas- 
ury, where the books would prove to me that not only was 
every post bill (afterwards called greenback) issued carefully 
numbered and registered, but that even the purpose for which 
it was put into circulation was specified. This I found to be 
fully accomplished by a novel but clear set of entries, and 
so reported to the Chamber of Commerce on my return to 
New York, where a false rumor had been spread that these 
bills were rapidly printed and issued like a daily paper. 

In December of this year (1862) I received from J. C. G. 
Kennedy, the Commissioner of the National Census Bureau, 
the following letter, which displays in an interesting light the 
character of Secretary Seward : 

" Washington, 22 Dec, 1862. 
" Col. Richard Lathers, 
" New York. 
" My dear Sir: — On Tuesday I dined with Baron Gerolt. 
The dinner was a diplomatic one ; I, the only guest unknown 
to fame and diplomacy. The guests were foreign ministers 
and their attaches and Mr. Seward and son. The chairman 
of Foreign Affairs of the Senate was invited, but came not; 



IN WAR TIME 189 

late in the evening the Baron handed me a note from him ex- 
pressing his disappointment etc., etc., etc. I then said there 
is a breach in the Cabinet. No one would have guessed it 
from Mr. Seward's hilarity; he was extremely lively and en- 
tertaining, and left a little after ten o'clock. Last evening, I 
passed an hour and a half with him. I alluded to his vivacity 
on Friday evening. He said, ' I was at that moment the hap- 
piest man, for I imagined myself relieved of the cares which 
so greatly have oppressed me, and fondly dreamed myself a 
free man, as I had just resigned my place at the head of the 
Cabinet, but this pleasure was not of long duration.' He, 
on yesterday, agreed to acquiesce in the demands of the Presi- 
dent for his return, upon what principle I know not ; but am 
assured there is no likelihood of any difiference between him 
and the President, leading him to any like course hereafter. 

" He spoke confidently of his hope for an early improvement 
in the appearance of things and declared that in his opinion 
the hour of gloom had passed and that the future promised 
hope. I read your letter to him, whereupon he made some 
kind comments and reiterated his belief that the morning 
dawneth. 

" Ever faithfully, 

" J. C. G. Kennedy." 

Mr. Kennedy (the writer of the above), an intimate friend 
from whom I received many letters at this time which aided 
me greatly in keeping abreast of the social and political doings 
at the National Capital, was the trusted friend of President 
Lincoln, of the Secretary of State, of Senators Thurman and 
Sumner, of all the older leaders in Congress, and of the 
larger part of the diplomatic corps. He was also a classical 
scholar of acknowledged proficiency. I recall many discus- 
sions between Senators Thurman and Sumner and other men 
fond of the classics with regard to passages in the Greek and 
Latin poets ; and time and again I have heard his companions 
say, " Come, Kennedy, which of us quotes these lines 
properly ? " 



I90 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

Although of the old line Whig school of the Republican 
party, he was exceptionally popular with men of all parties 
because of his sterling good sense, his integrity, and his con- 
servatism in matters of religion. His house was modest and 
his hospitality unpretentious, but he received more distinguished 
people than any other individual in Washington. 

During one of my visits to Washington after the close of 
the war I invited a few friends to meet Mr. Kennedy and 
Mrs. Kennedy and daughter at an informal luncheon at Cham- 
berlain's Hotel. Among those invited were Senator and Mrs. 
Squires, Judge and Mrs. MacArthur, General and Mrs. \'dn 
Vliet, Senator and Mrs. Eustis. and Mr. and Mrs. Tappan of 
Boston. Mr. Kennedy was greatly annoyed to find, at the 
last moment, that an official engagement might prevent him 
from being present. The company had assembled in the parlor 
and Mrs. MacArthur was kind enough to ofifer to superin- 
tend the laying of the table in the adjoining room. She re- 
turned quickly to the parlor, however, greatly alarmed from 
discovering that provision had been made for thirteen guests. 
She declared that her fears would not allow her to sit down 
with a party of thirteen, because she shared in the belief that 
one of the number must die before the end of a year. Our 
efforts to divest her mind of this superstition utterly failed ; 
but fortunately Mr. Kennedy put in an appearance and got 
us out of our dilemma as he made number fourteen. 

A crazy, drunken vagabond assassinated Mr. Kennedy in 
broad daylight in the street near his office a few months after 
without any alleged cause whatever — whereby the fallacy of 
the " thirteen theory " was signally exemplified. 

In the earlier stages of the war, by reason of my close re- 
lations with several high officials at Washington (for which 
I was largely indebted to the good offices of Mr. Kennedy), 
I was constantly called upon to approach these officials with 
regard to matters of policy and preferment both military and 
civil, and was beseiged furthermore with pathetic appeals for 
news of the missing from both armies and with requests for 
passes to visit the front. 




J. C. G. Kennedy 
From a photograph of a painting 



IN WAR TIME 191 

While dining with Baron Gerolt, the Prussian Minister, 
soon after the beginning of the war, I witnessed from his 
residence the torch-light ovation (by, I think, the Fifth Army 
Corps) to General McClellan. All Washington seemed to be 
illuminated, and the people seemed to have gone crazy with 
enthusiasm over " Little Mac," as he was lovingly called at 
that time by many of the persons who afterwards would gladly 
have had him crucified. He was the very god of war, judging 
by the speeches of Mr. Seward and other members of the 
Cabinet to the enormous outdoor assemblage gathered to do 
him honor. He was the young Napoleon; and the illustrated 
papers of the day were filled with equestrian portraits of him 
resembling those of Napoleon crossing the Alps. 

I recall a lecture in New York by an engraver who said 
that when McClellan was removed and General Pope put in 
command of the Army of the Potomac the publishers utilized 
the McClellan equestrian plate by simply boring out the head 
of McClellan and inserting that of Pope in its place. This 
device, he added, was resorted to every time that there was 
a change in the command of the Army of the Potomac ; and 
thus the original McClellan plate was used finally for eques- 
trian portraits of Gen. Grant — a most striking commentary on 
the fickleness of popular favor. 

I was in Washington at the time of the fearful and dis- 
graceful defeat of the army under General Pope, also ; a 
period of great depression and excitement, in which the 
Administration was compelled to appeal to the generosity of 
McClellan to go to the head of his army again and save the 
Union. 

A number of friends and advisers of the General met at 
the residence of one of them, to whom I am indebted for this 
statement, to discuss the conditions of his returning to the 
command of a defeated and discouraged army. He had 
against him not only the civil administration at home, dom- 
inated by a factious and reckless party press, but also the head 
of the War Department, who, besides withholding the re- 
enforcements called for, actually withdrew from the lines, on 



192 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

the flimsy excuse of protecting the Capital, an army corps 
forming an important Hnk in the plan of operations. It was 
first determined to be necessary that McClellan should re- 
assume command of the army which idolized him and which 
had been, after his removal, abused, defeated and discouraged 
by reason of political appointments ; but it was argued that 
in acceding to the President's earnest request the General 
should require certain specific promises of non-interference 
with his military plans by the Secretary of War or by the 
political advisers of the Executive in Congress. It proved to 
be a most difficult task to draw a paper which should embody 
the ideas of all the persons present. One draft after another 
was submitted and rejected, and my friend, worn out with 
fatigue, fell asleep. After hours of discussion, a form was 
agreed upon and he was waked up for his assent thereto. 
His sleep had given him a conservative view of the matter 
and he said, " Gentlemen, it seems to me that General Mc- 
Clellan will be criticised if he attemps to make conditions with 
his country in time of danger. Therefore, in behalf of the 
General, I advise throwing this in the fire, and sending the 
General's simple acceptance." And his counsel prevailed. 

Some time after this I had the privilege of giving a dinner 
in honor of General and Mrs. McClellan at New Rochelle, 
at which the Mayor of New York, the President of the Cham- 
ber of Commerce, and several bankers, merchants, and editors 
were present. The speeches after the dinner felicitated Gen. 
McClellan on his wonderful creation of the Army of the 
Potomac, and on the zeal and bravery of his officers and men 
in every battle into which he had led them in defense of the 
Union, and reflected on the partisans who had influenced the 
President to remove him. General IMcClellan being toasted 
first as the guest of the occasion, replied modestly, abstaining 
from the least reference to his ill treatment by the Administra- 
tion. The President of the Chamber of Commerce, who was 
toasted next, was given much applause when he rose to reply. 
Now this gentleman, esteemed for his prominence and liberality 
in public matters as well as for his pleasing manner, began his 



IN WAR TIME 193 

speech by praising the General for his high moral character and 
for his distinguished services in the field, intending, it was very 
evident, to indorse the political objections against McClellan 
of the sectional partisans who had attempted to shake his 
popularity. As soon as he had closed his eulogy, however, 
and uttered the word but, a storm of applause broke forth 
which was renewed every time he attempted to go on. Find- 
ing it impossible to resume his speech, he whispered to me, 
"What does this interruption mean?" I replied, "It is quite 
obvious that your glowing words have not yet expended their 
patriotic influence on your friends." At this point another 
gentleman, William C. Prime, I think, an intimate friend and 
confidential supporter of the General, was toasted, and com- 
plimented the preceding speaker on his broad views of public 
policy and his appreciation of the merits of our distinguished 
guest. The next morning the opponents of McClellan were 
astonished to read in the papers a eulogy of him by the Presi- 
dent of the Chamber of Commerce. 

Several of the radical journals of the day were disposed 
to gauge the retired General's loyalty by the supposed want 
of it in his host. Thus, Wilkes' Spirit of the Times contained 
the following : 

" Political sympathies — In noticing the daily movements of 
McClellan the presses which rejoice in the contemplation of 
the genius of McClellan, have failed to notice that Gen. Mc- 
Clellan recently enjoyed a grand and formal dinner at the house 
of Richard Lathers, at New Rochelle. Mr. Lathers is a wealthy 
merchant of secession proclivities, who initiated the early 
movements in favor of the South. We are somewhat curious 
to see a list of the guests of the occasion." 

Another journal remarked : " General McClellan's procliv- 
ites for the South can be verified by his accepting the invita- 
tion of that dare-devil Lathers, whose rebel sentiments are 
well known, while he has declined numerous invitations of 
loyal men." 

The truth was, that the General was anxious to retire from 
public observation. He only consented to come to my house 



194 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

quietly, to meet a few of his intimate friends, with the under- 
standing that the guests should be invited personally and that 
care should be taken to keep it out of the newspapers. But 
with all our efforts to avoid publicity the train was detained 
by force at every station at which it stopped by an enthusiastic 
crowd who were determined to see and cheer " Little Mac " ; 
and it was with the greatest difficulty my coachman drove him 
through the throng of his admirers to my house. 

One morning in the early part of 1863, a Committee of 
Three, composed of Moses H. Grinnel, C. N. Marshall, and 
William E. Dodge, called on me at my office and informed me 
that such was the public alarm, owing to the many mistakes 
in the management of the war, and the financial risk it in- 
volved, that it had become necessary to organize a League of 
the chief corporations and business men of the country 
pledged to unconditional loyalty to the Government ; that the 
Presidents of all the corporations in the City had already signed 
the pledge, and that they now called on me as the President 
of the Great Western Insurance Company to join in the loyal 
work. I replied, " Gentlemen, I thank you for the compli- 
ment of your rather tardy visit, and I desire to congratulate 
you on the measure of safety you have originated. The fac- 
tions in the political parties at this time are, indeed, alarming, 
and well calculated to discourage the President and the com- 
mander of the army in the field. I have myself never had any 
doubt of the ultimate success of the Union armies or of the 
loyalty of the great body of the people, even at the South, and 
I respect this precautionary personal pledge in every signer, 
who thus arms himself against his own weakness. But I 
cannot sign such a paper as you present. You may all know 
that my early manhood was passed in Georgetown, South 
Carolina, a little city set in the midst of fertile fields, whose 
planters resided a part of the year in town. They were not 
rich, as wealth is computed here, but they lived well and, per- 
haps, luxuriously, considering their modest fortunes, drinking 
the best of old Madeira in greater quantities, at times, than 
temperance would justify. An eloquent Northern temper- 



IN WAR TIME 195 

ance lecturer visited Georgetown and satisfied these wine 
drinkers that total abstinence was the only safe remedy against 
what they themselves deprecated as excess. A Total Absti- 
nence Society was organized among the old men, and then it 
was proposed to bring in the young men, also. The com- 
mittee, unlike your committee, waited on me first to obtain my 
name to the pledge as an example to other young business men, 
as I had at that time the peculiar reputation of never having 
tasted wine, although my house was well known for good wine 
and hospitality. I said to my temperance friends, ' I cannot 
so far undervalue my own temperance as to admit the necessity 
of taking a pledge to avoid drunkenness.' And to you, gentle- 
men, I would say with all respect, ' I am unwilling to impugn 
my own stability by taking a pledge to avoid disloyalty.' " 

After this short and rather personal harangue, my old 
friend, Moses H. Grinnel, always outspoken, said to the com- 
mittee, " I told you he would make a damned ingenious ex- 
cuse, but that he would not sign the pledge.'' 

While dining one day in Washington with Mr. Riggs of 
the Government banking firm of Corcoran and Riggs, I sat 
next to Baron Steckel, the Russian Minister, who said to me, 
" I understand from Mr. Riggs that you are intimate with 
Mr. Seymour the newly elected Governor of the State of New 
York. I want to ask a favor of you. My master, the Czar, 
is quite disappointed by the non-realization of Secretary 
Seward's repeated assurances to me that the Civil War will 
be over in sixty days. The Czar is, therefore, desirous of 
having a reliable opinion from an experienced statesman like 
Governor Seymour of New York, who disregards the preju- 
dices of both parties and yet has the popularity to be elected 
the Governor of the greatest and most powerful .State in the 
Union — in spite of the opposition of the Federal Government. 
Would you be willing to go to Albany and lay this request of 
the Czar before the Governor, asking him for a confidential 
opinion upon the subject?" I replied that while I did not 
regard myself as being on such confidential terms with the 
Governor as the request implied, I should consider myself 



196 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

honored by being entrusted with such a mission but I feared 
that my efforts would prove as unsatisfactory to himself and 
the Czar as the promises of Mr. Seward. 

On reaching Albany I called on the Governor in the Execu- 
tive Chamber and laid before him the request of the Czar, say- 
ing, " Governor, you know that I could not be the means of 
asking you to give an opinion which might, by being published, 
conflict with your interests, and, therefore, I have stated 
plainly at the outset the object of my visit; now, if for any 
reason either consent or refusal to express an opinion would 
embarrass you, I shall simply write to Baron Steckel declin- 
ing to interview you." To my surprise the Governor promptly 
said, " It will afford me pleasure to give the Czar the opinion 
he desires. It is a rule of mine to express my opinion un- 
reservedly, when it is asked, on all subjects connected with 
public matters. Go into my private office, and, as soon as I 
despatch some official business, I will give you my ideas as 
to the permanence of the Union. However long the struggle 
to destroy the Union may be maintained, it cannot be dissolved, 
for reasons I will make clear to you.'' When the Governor 
came into his office he carried in his hand a map of the 
United States which he hung on the wall, saying, " Suppose 
that the army of Lee should be successful, or that a weak ad- 
ministration in Washington should be ready to divide the 
Union with the Confederates ; and suppose you were appointed 
to run the line of division, show me by placing a pin on the 
map where you would start it." I immediately stuck a pin in 
the center of the River Ohio between the State of Kentucky 
and the State of Ohio. " Here," said I. " There can be no 
safer boundary than this river. Ohio is a Northern State, 
chiefly settled by New Englanders and by Emancipationists. 
Kentucky on the other hand, is a slaveholding Southern State, 
settled by and acting with the extreme class of Secessionists." 
The Governor here broke in, saying, " But you reckon without 
your host. The Kentuckian will object to a separation from 
his friends across the river, to whom he is not hostile and 
with whom property, business, and family ties have existed 



IN WAR TIME 197 

from the beginning." " Well," said I, " we will draw the 
line south of Kentucky, and make Kentucky a Northern 
State." The Governor objected: "Kentucky is not only 
Southern in origin and feeling, but as a slaveholding State 
would not willingly join the Northern Confederacy." " Then 
we will place the line north of Ohio," said I. To this the 
Governor also objected: " The people of Ohio come of a New 
England Abolition and Puritanical race utterly unwilling to 
be joined with slaveholders." He continued: " I have demon- 
strated to you, I think, on the map of our country the im- 
possibility of running any division line acceptable to the 
border States. A reconstruction into two independent govern- 
ments is quite impossible. The wisdom of the fathers impelled 
them to constitute a federated Union in which every institu- 
tion peculiar to each State was to be respected. The viola- 
tion of this fundamental principle by the radical element of the 
Northern States led to our present bloody war. Pride of opin- 
ion, based on sectional prejudice, has intensified the war spirit 
on both sides. The Union must, and will be, preserved, and 
war is now the only means to that end. There can be no 
reasonable doubt of the success of the National Government 
because of its superior resources of men and money, of mili- 
tary and naval equipment, and its financial credit. But the 
Southerners are of the same bold, persistent blood as our- 
selves, and he would be a wise prophet who could fix a date 
for the end of such a conflict." 

I regret that I did not retain a copy of the letter in which 
I reproduced for the Russian Minister this interesting reason- 
ing of the Governor, much of which has now escaped my mem- 
ory. I learned afterwards, through my friend Mr. Riggs, 
that my letter was sent to the Czar and filed as an important 
opinion on the American Civil War, coming, as it did, from 
so distinguished a source as Governor Seymour. 

In the spring of 1863 I crossed the Atlantic in company 
with Mr. Wm. M. Evarts and Mr. William H. Aspinwall — 
my object being the establishment of a foreign agency of the 
" Great Western." It was said that these two gentlemen and 



198 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

a distinguished merchant and political leader of Boston who 
met them in London were sent by our Government to con- 
sult with our Minister, Mr. Adams, on the best mode of pre- 
venting the illegal fitting-out in England of Confederate 
privateers as contrary to international comity if not to in- 
ternational law. Whether this was true or not, they were 
received with marked social and semi-official courtesies. 

I was invited, as the friend and traveling companion of 
Mr. Aspinwall and Mr. Evarts, to participate in most of the 
hospitalities extended to them. 

The day after our arrival in London, James McHenry, the 
banker, called ; and for some time thereafter his fine carriage 
with its liveried coachman attended daily to drive us in the 
park and to the various places to which my companions de- 
sired to go. We also received handsomely engraved cards of 
invitation to a grand dinner to be given by Mr. McHenry 
at Oak Cottage, his fine villa in a part of the Holland Park 
which he had been able to procure in spite of the English sen- 
timent against breaking up the estates of the aristocracy. As 
these invitations were sent out nearly a month ahead,' I was 
able to make quite a tour on the Continent, and still return in 
time for the dinner. ' :. 

In Paris I accompanied to the confectioner's the courier who 
had Mr. McHenry 's orders to fill for the dinner. The con- 
fections ordered bore Mr. McHenry's monogram on each 
piece, and were put up in beautiful baskets which alone cost 
fifty francs. 

The dinner was an affair of great dignity in all respects. 
The dining room was finished with onyx and other polished 
stones, and the gaslight was toned down by cut glass panels 
inserted in the ceiling. The table linen was specially manu- 
factured for Mr. McHenry, and had his monogram woven into 
it. The under cover was of rich blue velvet. The finger bowls, 
which were of cut glass and silver, also bore his monogram, 
and contained a clock-work machine which projected a spray 
perfumed with attar of roses. The baskets of confections 
already referred to were presented to the ladies after they left 



IN WAR TIME 199 

the table, at the drawing room door, by their escorts. I met 
here the editor of the London Times and the president of the 
Bank of England, and other financiers, as well as a number of 
distinguished Americans. 

It is needless to say that this dinner had a financial ob- 
ject, and one of the most favored guests informed me years 
after that it cost him a $30,000 loss by an investment made 
the next day in railway debentures. 

Mr. McHenry was a man of pleasing manners, and pos- 
sessed a wonderful faculty for interesting capitalists in the 
issues of stocks or bonds in which he was himself interested. 
Many of these investments proved unfortunate for his friends ; 
but his integrity was never doubted, however much his judg- 
ment was called in question and his persuasive quality 
dreaded. 

I may remark here in passing that during this my first 
sojourn in England I was elected an honorary member of the 
Committee of Lloyds, and made an address before that body 
on the origin and growth of marine insurance. 

In Manchester I was the guest of Thomas Fielding, the 
head of one of the largest combined manufacturing and 
banking firms of Great Britain. At the earnest solicitation of 
Mr. Fielding and his friends, I delivered the following ad- 
dress, on the nth of May, before the Chamber of Commerce 
of that city : 

" Gentlemen of the Chamber of Commerce of Man- 
chester: 

" I appreciate most highly the compliment you pay me as 
an individual, and still more as a merchant and a member of 
the Chamber of Commerce of New York, in asking me to ad- 
dress you. 

" The sympathies engendered by commercial and industrial 
pursuits not only overleap national boundaries, but dispel the 
prejudices of race and of forms of government. International 
commerce tends to the suppression of war, and helps powerfully 
to spread the gospel of peace and good will to men. 



200 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

" War, civil and foreign, is too often due to the intrigues 
of ambitious leaders who devote their energies to rousing the 
passions and prejudices of the people, rather than to instilling 
into their minds practical views of the public interest. A 
review of the history of modern domestic revolutions and of 
international contests, with all their bloody victories and de- 
feats, demonstrates that even the victories have rarely yielded 
as much substantial advantage as could have been secured by 
civil reform and by judicious foreign negotiations. In your 
own modern history the most permanent reforms have come 
from legislation and diplomacy. 

" The Civil War in my own country is one of the most 
needless and unjustifiable of which it is possible to conceive. 
A cultivated and prosperous section of our country has 
staked its all on a causeless rebellion against a friendly gov- 
ernment of great power and boundless resources. The Se- 
cession leaders who were enjoying dignified posts under the 
national government have not only risked the prestige of these 
positions, but they have staked on the issue of war the very 
institution of slavery which they pretend to desire to protect 
against possible adverse civil legislation ; and this in the 
face of the direct and unqualified assurance of the party in 
power and the official declaration of the President that slavery 
is protected by the Constitution and is considered by them 
inviolable. It is the power of the United States alone which 
guarantees the permanence of slave property to the South. It 
is not to be disguised that the whole civilized world, with or 
without reason, is arrayed against slavery, nor is it to be 
disguised that our government is the only barrier against 
emancipation ; and if this civil war could succeed in establish- 
ing a government ' founded on slavery ' the edifice would be 
of a very ephemeral nature. 

" It is the election of Mr. Lincoln, the candidate of the 
Republican Party, to the Presidency which is now adduced 
as the chief reason for attempting to destroy the Union, and 
for plunging the country into the horrors of civil war. The 
Secessionists adduce no positive grievance to justify war; 



IN WAR TIME 201 

they onl}' claim that this success of a political party is a 
menace to their institution of slavery. Now the Constitution 
is a complete and effectual barrier against emancipation. Fur- 
thermore, the Supreme Court and the Senate are in full sym- 
pathy with these rights of the South and would oppose any 
attempt to legislate in emancipation. Finally, Mr. Lincoln, in 
his inaugural address, not only asserted in the most solemn 
and unqualified language his own personal and official want 
of po\ver or desire to interfere with slavery, but he pointed out 
that the party platform upon which he was elected proclaimed 
the same sentiments. Indeed the great body of the North, 
with the exception of a few fanatics of the Eastern States 
(men of but limited influence) were active in advocating 
measures of fraternal consideration. A Peace Congress em- 
bracing leading men of all parties was convened at Wash- 
ington. Public meetings were held in the Northern cities, 
for the purpose of assuring the South that their constitutional 
rights would be preserved in the future as they had been in 
the past. At one of these meetings called in Pine Street, New 
York City, which was attended by prominent citizens from 
all parts of the State of New York, a fraternal ' Address ' 
to the South was unanimously voted pledging the support of 
the State to the defense of Southern rights under the Con- 
stitution, and appealing to the patriotism of the Southern 
people against the contemplated rupture of the Union. A 
commission of which I had the honor of being a member, 
was appointed to bear this ' .A.ddress ' to the Governors of 
the Southern States. While on this mission, I observed that 
in all the cities the merchants and business men who were 
not under a kind of social or political duress, were averse to 
the secession which the political leaders were championing. 
Indeed, I found that the enthusiasm for secession was largely 
a manufactured sentiment which quiet citizens feared to com- 
bat under the menace of being ostracised in social and even 
in business circles. The business men, the most stable element 
of the South, were not, at heart, favorable to Secession then 
and surely nothing has occurred since to induce them to aban- 



202 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

don their Union sentiments in favor of civil war. Whetlier 
the conflict be long or short, the Union idea will ultimately 
prevail, and the war instead of destroying the Union will dem- 
onstrate its capacity to enforce its laws and maintain the in- 
tegrity of its domain. 

" In your own contests with Scotland, the conditions were 
quite different, since the incentives to war were questions 
of border strife in which depredations, cattle stealing and 
castle burning played a large part. In our case, two little 
States, South Carolina and Massachusetts, situated many 
hundred miles apart, have caused all the trouble — Massachu- 
setts having succeeded by fanatical and sectional appeals in 
making South Carolina believe its vested and legal rights were 
being interfered with, and South Carolina having allowed its 
natural resentment to take on a form as unfortunate and un- 
lawful as the provocation. Could these pugnacious little States 
be removed to the middle of the ocean and left there to fight 
it out — like the famed Kilkenny cats which fought, we are 
told, till only their tails were left — the peace, union and safety 
of our country would be assured, since the great body of the 
people of the country have no sympathy with the practices or 
doctrines of either of these extreme schools of thought. The 
Union is a strong passion as well as a reasoned sentiment ; and 
the life of the nation transcends all discussion of abstract 
doctrines. 

" In our Constitution (probably the most perfect organic law 
ever devised for the protection of liberty and especially for the 
protection of the rights of federated States), not one sentence 
is to be found which could be tortured into giving any State 
the right to withdraw. A Supreme Court is provided which 
is adequate to redress legally all grievences of individuals 
and of States ; and even John C. Calhoun, the eminent advocate 
and interpreter of Southern constitutional rights, always 
claimed that the only tribunal competent under the Constitu- 
tion to afford relief against violations of constitutional rights, 
was that of a national convention representing the sovereign 
people of the whole country, from whom the Constitution was 



IN WAR TIME 203 

originally derived. In his letter to the legislature of South 
Carolina, he not only cautioned against secession, but said 
plainly that no nation has ever been ruptured by civil war, 
though many nations have lost their liberty thereby. State 
Rights were advocated by this great Southern statesman for 
the protection in the Union of the States against possible party 
or sectional domination, not in any manner as a lever with 
which to overthrow the government or as a justification of 
disloyalty to the Union. 

" The right of the people to abolish their form of government, 
affirmed by our Declaration of Independence, is after all but 
the right of revolution and in our revolt against the British 
crown by which our national independence was achieved our 
justification was primarily the actual and oppressive grievance 
of taxation without representation so repugnant to every 
British freeman. 

" Scotland, in 1713 (only seven years after the confederation 
of kingdoms had been accomplished), had become dissatisfied 
with the form of taxation adopted by the Parliament. The 
Scottish people clamored for a dissolution of the union. Un- 
like the Southern Secessionists, however, they did not fall 
back on the sovereignty of their nation ; instead, they urged 
the unequal and unfair taxation to which they were subjected 
as a reason for their desire to dissolve the union. Their repre- 
sentative statesmen met and deliberated and sent a conservative 
committee to lay their grievances before the Queen ; and, when 
the National Parliament assembled, one of the members moved 
in the House of Lords that leave be given to bring in a bill 
to dissolve the Union. The bill was discussed, Scotland had 
a hearing and a vote, and so had England. The vital interests 
of both sides were considered with a gravity and conservatism 
which led to mutual concessions, and the British union was 
saved. 

" Now, gentlemen, a similar patriotic course might have been 
followed in our sectional controversy and, if it had been fol- 
lowed, it would have produced a similar result. Debate brings 
out truth and exposes the error, selfishness and fraud, which 



204 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

always lurk in sectional political controversies. So well was it 
known that Union sentiment prevailed all over the country, 
even at the South, that the leaders of the Secession agitation 
discouraged every Northern effort at conciliation and compro- 
mise. 

" This slaveholders' rebellion has no claim upon the sympathy 
of the world. The South has no practical grievance to be re- 
dressed against the government which was made perpetual by 
the consent of the people. It promises no advantages to inter- 
national trade by way of compensation for the damage it has 
already inflicted upon it. Surely the petty and revolutionary 
republics to the south of us neither favor the spread of civiliza- 
tion nor stimulate commerce. The success of this rebellion 
would justify the disintegration of the so-called Confederacy 
itself, and we should have on our continent perpetual civil tur- 
moils like those of South America. 

" I will not undervalue the grave nature of the conflict ; it is 
no ninety-day affair as some of our too enthusiastic Federal 
officials have announced. We are confronted by American sol- 
diers led by officers trained in our own military schools, brave, 
skillful, and enthusiastic, as members of the Anglo-Saxon race 
always are ; and Secession will be defended with a vigor worthy 
of a better cause. 

" The Secession movement appealed immediately to the young 
Southerners of military habits and propensities who at once 
filled the Confederate armies with the best blood of the section. 
The Southern military leaders are mainly officers who re- 
signed from the Federal army after having received their edu- 
cation at the public expense. In fact, the majority of the 
pupils in our Military and Naval Schools were Southerners, 
because our Northern young men preferred professional and 
business careers to public careers. The early recruits of the 
Northern army consisted largely of foreigners and the lower 
class of natives who enlisted chiefly for the wages ; and the 
Northern officers were relatively untrained, with the exception 
of a few officers of the peace establishment of the regular 



IN WAR TIME 205 

army and a few from the uniformed militia regiments of the 
cities. This mere mob, unenthusiastic and untrained, had 
against it well-drilled and enthusiastic forces. 

" Military movements on the part of the people in the North, 
as on the part of the National government, were discouraged 
up to the actual rebel attack on Fort Sumter, which awoke the 
North. The early defeats at Bull Run and at other places, 
opened the eyes of the Northern people to the urgent need of 
a disciplined army. A vigorous prosecution of the war for 
the Union became the cry of all the parties there and already 
the Union army is achieving notable success. 

" The Confederacy is sadly lacking, as compared with the 
United States, in the sinews of war (money and credit). It 
can expect no help from foreign sources by reason of the ef- 
fective blockade of all its ports, for it is quite improbable that 
any foreign nation will care to become involved in war with our 
country by attempting to interfere with local affairs, in which 
they can have no proper concern. Our armies can be recruited 
to any extent from foreign sources as well as from our own 
population ; and the latter are now zealous to conquer and re- 
store the Union. The Confederate army, on the other hand, 
by its very reckless gallantry in the early battles, has in every 
victory as well as in every defeat sacrificed the best blood of 
the South. The Southerners who stayed at home in the be- 
ginning by reason of age and general incapacity are now being 
called into the ranks, and it has been well said that to obtain 
troops the Confederates are robbing the cradle and the grave. 
This conscription to fill the army, the despotic action necessary 
to its enforcement, the enormous rise in the price of every ne- 
cessity of life, the worthless character of Confederate money as 
a purchasing medium, and the entire paralysis of nearly every 
kind of business enterprise, are producing widespread dis- 
content among the suffering people who have no slaves. When 
our forces capture a town or city, they bring relief to the plain 
people by furnishing lucrative employment. Supplies hitherto 
shut out flow in from all sides and may be had at reasonable 



2o6 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

prices ; full and free restoration to the rights of citizenship 
with no penalty or confiscation of property is granted to all 
who pledge their allegiance to the Union. 

" When the Confederate soldier asks himself, in the light of 
these generous overtures of our armies, for what he is fighting 
in the rebel ranks, and for what he is subjecting himself, his 
wife and his children to a lack of the necessaries of life as well 
as to the possible loss of their main support, he is at a loss 
for an answer. 

" The liberal and wise policy of our conquering army is 
developing confidence in the Government of the Union, and 
is paving the way for the spread of loyal feelings. 

" The time is not far distant when the Union flag will again 
float over the entire country, and the Constitutional rights of 
all will be secured — on the one hand, against the meddling 
abolitionists of the North, and, on the other, against the reck- 
less and rebellious slaveholders of the South. This, gentle- 
men, is the prophecy of a Southern merchant who is a pro- 
slavery and State Rights man from sentiment and a Union man 
from conviction. I believe that both slavery and State Rights 
can and will be preserved only under the Constitution and 
through the power of our National Union." 

This speech evidently produced some uneasiness on the part 
of a portion of my audience, who called on me the next morn- 
ing and told me candidly that they were bondholders of the 
Confederacy, but held cotton as security. I inquired where 
the cotton was stored. " In Savannah and Charleston," they 
said, and added, " We have relied on international war usage. 
Even if these cities are captured, the property of foreigners 
will be respected." I explained to them that the important 
defect in their reasoning lay in the fact that the war in 
America was not a war between nations, but was simply re- 
bellion, and that a lender to the rebels stood in the same rela- 
tion to the U. S. Government as the rebel borrower. The 
Government could not, of course, reach and punish the foreign 
lender for promoting rebellion and bloodshed in America, but 



IN WAR TIME 207 

the property pledges would be confiscated like guns or any 
other instruments of warfare. They then said, " What would 
you advise us to do?" "Sell out to other sympathisers," I 
answered, " or run the blockade with your fastest steamers if 
you can." They left, good naturedly remarking that I was 
a sort of Job's comforter to them. 

In Edinburgh I was the gnest of Sir James Simpson 
(then Professor of Medicine in the University of Edinburgh), 
who is credited with the discovery of the anassthetical proper- 
ties of chloroform ; and at a public dinner, which he had the 
courtesy to offer me, I gave a talk by request on slavery and 
the issues involved in our Civil War. 

During my visit to Sir James I met several men from the 
University who were largely interested, as was Sir James him- 
self, in archaeology, and I accompanied them on a visit to one 
of the caves in which Scotland abounds. We entered its mouth 
at the village of Kitcardy by crawling on our hands and knees, 
and soon found ourselves in a natural arched chamber, about 
ten feet high. This chamber had a curious ceiling covered 
with hieroglyphics of scenic character, which these archaeolog- 
ical students copied by means of tracings on cotton sheeting 
held up against the stone ceiling, and which I have since had 
the pleasure of seeing reproduced in print. I have a particular 
reverence for this little fishing village of Kitcardy, because it 
was here that the celebrated Adam Smith wrote his great 
work on political economy. 

Sir James related in my hearing a curious incident which 
goes to show the danger of empiricism in science. He had, 
it seems, among his students, a very studious and bright young 
doctor whom he was in the habit of trusting during his ab- 
sence from the city to visit such of his patients as had the 
less dangerous types of disease. On returning (after one of 
these absences) from Paris, whither he had gone to treat the 
Empress Eugenie, his assistant resigned his position and es- 
tablished himself as a homeopathic physician in Edinburgh. 
To make his desertion from the doctrines of the University 
of Edinburgh and the teachings of his master more offensive, 



2o8 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

he wrote a very clever vindication of his new theories in which 
he recited the cause of his conversion to the doctrines of 
Hahnemann. He said that while visiting the patients en- 
trusted to his care he determined to apply, with a view to 
demonstrating the fallacy of homeopathy, the little homeo- 
pathic pellets in cases where the trial could not endanger the 
patient. He found ready to his hand in Sir James' study 
a little cabinet on the shelves of which were ranged the homeo- 
pathic remedies put up in small, neatly labeled vials. To his 
surprise every remedy he applied effected a cure. Being un- 
able to combat the evidence of his own senses, he was com- 
pelled to embrace a system so successful, even if its doctrines 
did conflict with the science which he had spent so much 
time and study to acquire. 

This put a heavy strain on the friendship and esteem which 
Sir James had hitherto entertained and expressed for his able 
pupil, but Sir James was equal to the emergency. He wrote 
an exhaustive and convincing argument, exposing the fallacy 
of homeopathy. After praising highly the capacity of the 
young doctor and the progress he had made in his profession, 
he declared that he had fallen a victim to an over-hasty in- 
vestigation. He then explained that he had rendered a sur- 
gical service to a cabinet maker's wife, and had declined 
to accept any compensation from this hard-working mechanic, 
who had a large family ; that the cabinet maker, wishing to 
show his gratitude, had presented his little son with a hand- 
some small mahogany cabinet of his own make, representing an 
apothecary's case, with shelves of artistic design, glass doors, 
and a polished slab of marble to represent a counter ; and that 
to complete the illusion he had stocked the shelves with the 
usual little vials bearing in gold letters the names of the homeo- 
pathic remedies. 

This cabinet was set u]) in Sir James' study to please the 
boy, who opened, mingled, and dispensed the treasures of his 
drug shop, as he named it, almost every day. If he was called 
by his mother to get ready for school or a walk, he was re- 
quired to fill up the bottles and place them in order on the 



IN WAR TIME 209 

shelves again. The boy had amused himself thus for many 
months, when Sir James was called to visit Paris profession- 
ally. Such were the curative mixtures which an honest searcher 
after professional knowledge found so efficacious that he was 
persuaded to ignore not only the knowledge he had hitherto 
acquired himself, but the accumulated knowledge of the medi- 
cal profession. 

The following batch of letters gives a synopsis of feelings 
and opinions in England in the spring of 1863: 

" London, Apr. 10, 1863. 
" John A. Parker, Esq., New York. 

" Dear Sir: — I had a confidential interview this morning 
with our secretary of legation, Mr. Charles L. Wilson, who 
has given me a letter of introduction to our London Consul, 
Hon. Furman H. Morse, for a further conference on the sub- 
ject of the rebel privateers. These gentlemen, with Mr. Dud- 
ley, our Consul at Liverpool, and other consuls in the United 
Kingdom, have been very zealous in ferreting out these priva- 
teering expeditions, and our Minister, Mr. Adams, is con- 
tinually urging the English Government to put a stop to these 
nefarious practices. I am led to believe that the Government 
is disposed to be more active than it has been and I have now 
some hope that the law officers of the Crown will in good 
faith try to hold the Alexandria, for our proofs will, we 
think, be very conclusive against her. You will see that the 
London Times and other papers have published detailed ac- 
counts of a correspondence by telegraph between Mr. Dudley 
and Mr. Adams, relative to the steamer Japan. This corre- 
spondence is a fabrication from beginning to end. No such 
communications passed in any form. Our consul at Greenock 
or Glasgow for both) fully advised the Legation here, as 
long ago as January, of the purpose of this vessel, and Mr. 
Adams had the same information from other sources ; but 
the fact is, legal proofs could not be obtained to justify her 
seizure, and she suddenly, as I wrote you in my last, got her 
crew (eighty men from Liverpool) and proceeded- to sea. 



2IO REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

There was no cutter or other armed vessel sent to intercept 
the Japan. She simply got her crew and pointed out to sea ; 
and therefore the officials here seemed not to be chargeable 
with any blunder. They were simply unable to effect a great 
public good and render an essential service to our commerce, 
because with the most persevering industry they could not ob- 
tain tangible evidence. 

" It would be well (as a matter of justice to parties here 
whose untiring efforts in favor of the national Government 
ought to be appreciated at home) to give an abstract from the 
above to the Post and the Journal of Commerce, so that 
the contradiction may appear at the same time that the ex- 
tracts from the fictitious correspondence I have referred to find 
their way into our journals. It has not been deemed judicious 
to correct officially these paragraphs here, but no stone is left 
unturned to ferret out rebel enterprises. The former purser 
of the Alabama is now here, having taken the oath of alle- 
giance, and is co-operating with the Legation. His testimony. 
in certain cases soon to be investigated in the Courts, will 
be most valuable. He is kept in hiding so that his appearance 
in Court will be the first intimation his old confederates will 
have that he is to reply to their testimony. Please use this 
information with great caution, as it would be a serious matter 
should it reach the Secessionists before the proper time. It 
is hoped that some of these people, under his testimony, will 
be liable to a criminal prosecution under the English laws. 
He has satisfied the Legation that the Florida and the Ala- 
bama have agreed to rendezvous at the Western Islands and 
thence to co-operate against our commerce on the English 
coast, destroying all our ships bound for English ports, and 
making a special demonstration against our New York and 
Pliiladelphia packets. Mr. Adams has already apprised our 
government of these things, having been able even to detail 
the signals agreed upon ; the statements of the Alabama's 
purser have been confirmed to a great extent by information 
derived from other reliable quarters. . . . 

" Very truly, 

" Richard Lathers. 



IN WAR TIME 211 

" I spent the evening yesterday with Mr. W. H. Aspinwall, 
and on Monday I have an interview with Mr. Adams, at ten 
o'clock." 

" London^ April 15th, 1863. 
" John A. Parker^ Esq., New York. 

" Dear Sir: — Mr. Adams, our Minister, called on me yes- 
terday and I regret I was not at the hotel. I afterwards had 
a long conversation with the Secretary of Legation, and Mr. 
Dudley, our Consul at Liverpool, on the subject of the armed 
privateers now being fitted out in England. We are most 
hopeful of being able to hold the Alexandria, and Mr. 
Adams informed me a few days since that he thinks the 
British Government is more disposed to do its duty in this 
respect than it has hitherto been. I heard him remark that 
such speeches as General Butler's and many of the radical 
and abusive editorials of the same kind are embarrassing to 
all those who are exerting themselves to maintain pleasant 
relations with Great Britain, and trying to counteract the dan- 
gerous machinations of the rebel faction whose sole business 
here seems to be to get our Government into a foreign war. 
Besides, negotiations of a delicate nature are never well car- 
ried on by a representative of an abusive constituency. Mr. 
Adams informs me that during his two years' mission he 
has not once had occasion for the least warmth of temper, 
nor has Lord John Russell, and yet we know that they have 
dealt with very trying and delicate questions. The result is 
that Mr. Adams' discreet, active and judicious defense of our 
rights is yielding fruit, and has thus far foiled every efifort of 
the Secession. ... " Very truly, 

" Richard Lathers." 

" London, May 5th, 1863. 
" J. A. Parker, Esq., New York. 

"Dear Sir: — I am favored with yours of the 21st, which I 
have read with great satisfaction. I note your remarks on the 
subject of our diplomatic relations. You will be glad to learn 
that they have now assumed more satisfactory shape, and it is 



212 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

generally conceded that there will be no rupture between the 
governments. The longer I am in England and the more I 
mix with the substantial people, the more I am satisfied that 
the Secession element is losing ground here ; their influence 
is on the wane. I have had the pleasure of meeting a great 
many of the manufacturers, bankers and merchants in Lon- 
don, Liverpool and the district around Manchester, and I 
have uniformly found that these gentlemen seem pleased to 
have any of the Secession arguments proved to be fallacious. 
The fact is that the Secessionists have been very active, and, as 
there was no one here to expose their fallacies, they have had 
much sympathy for wrongs which have never existed, and have 
laid claims to remedies which our Constitution does not justify. 
One very intelligent manufacturer of Manchester at a dinner 
party there, asked me if ' each State had a constitutional right 
to withdraw from the Union at pleasure with or without 
cause.' I replied ' Just as much right as Ireland has to with- 
draw from the United Kingdom.' And I then asked him, for 
the benefit of the company, whether he thought the Parlia- 
ment now in session would permit Scotland or Ireland to with- 
draw from its national connection with England because a 
religious faith different from that of the majority of the Irish 
and Scotch people was established by law. ' Slavery and anti- 
slavery,' I added, ' are not more antagonistic to one another 
than are the English State Church and Romanism or even 
Presbyterianism ; nor was the Union any more in the way of 
the peaceful existence of slavery in the South than the national 
faith of Great Britain is in the way of the dissenting faiths of 
the other two parts of the United Kingdom.' My interlocutor 
then urged the non-enforcement of the fugitive slave law by the 
North. To this I replied that the Government of the Union had 
never obstructed the policy of the South in this respect, and that 
the non-enforcement of the law in certain States was due to 
a local prejudice which time would have removed. I showed 
by quoting from our census returns that there had been only 
eight hundred fugitive slaves the past ten years as against 
eleven hundred the previous ten years, and I explained fur- 



IN WAR TIME 213 

ther that the most active secession States had al\va_vs lost the 
smallest number of negroes, and had always refused to co- 
operate with Northern men who were anxious to do away 
with these inter-State squabbles. 

" In all these interviews I have represented to our English 
friends that the Secessionists are doing their best to create a 
rupture between the United States and England to serve their 
own destructive purposes against our Government, and I have 
expressed a hope that the substantial interests would look 
with distrust on everyone who took sides against his own 
government in a foreign land. Englishmen, I have tried to 
make clear, cannot afford to foster doctrines which are as 
destructive to their own nationality as they are to ours. I 
find that the shipments of food have produced a most happy 
effect on all classes, notwithstanding that the Secessionists 
attempted to prejudice the people against our offering of good 
will and mercy. You will see by the papers that Mr. Bright 
and the working men have called on Mr. Adams, and these 
ovations will do much to popularize the Union cause. . . . 

" I am yours truly, 

" Richard Lathers" 

" London, May 7th, 1863. 
" John A. Parker, Esq. 

" Dear Sir: — I dined last night with Mr. Adams and learned 
that our relations with England are very satisfactory, and great 
hopes are entertained that the Alexandria will be convicted. 

" The suspicious element, I think, is on the wane here, and 
a great many of them are hard up for funds. The blockade 
runners' chase has not been as successful as many suppose, 
and there are fewer persons disposed to invest capital in them. 
Still the ravages of the Florida and the Alabama cause a good 
deal of uneasiness among the American interests here, and 
underwriters are content to write lightly on war risks around 
the capes on American property. 

" Mr. Aspinwall and Mr. Titus have gone to the Continent. 
T met ^Ir. Robert J. Walker at Mr. Adams* dinner a few 



214 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

days since. He is popular here, and Mr. Evarts' arrival here 
will be of much value in the Alexandria case. He will be 
equal to the best of the profession in London and will make 
his mark before he leaves. Mr. Seward was wise to confide 
to him this important duty, and we underwriters will be 
largely gainers if he succeeds in stopping the exit of those 
vessels. The change of feeling is very great since I have been 
here on the subject of the Confederate privateers. Everyone, 
not in the secession interest, is anxious to stop the fitting out 
of armed vessels, and even the blockade runners cannot easily 
get insured at any possible rate, whereas they were formerly 
insured as low as twenty per cent. 

" Very truly yours, 

" Richard Lathers." 

The following letter is an interesting resume of the state 
of finance and of politics in New York in the summer of 1863, 
from one of our most conservative and thoughtful capitalists: 

" New York, June loth, 1863. 
" R. Lathers, Esq., London, England. 

" My dear Sir: — Your kind letter came safely to hand, and 
I now take a moment to post you in relation to matters on 
this side of the Atlantic, and wish that I could write some- 
thing that would point to a bright picture for the country 
that you and I have so dear at heart; but the truth must be 
told, and that is very far from being encouraging to a con- 
servative mind. 

" The war is still going on, not to restore the Union, but to 
destroy the South and elevate the negro ; not because the party 
in power love the negro but for the reason that they hate the 
white man South and are determined to annihilate him lest at 
some future day they unite with the Democratic party North 
and thus ignore the party in power. Consequently, the war 
commenced under the cry of saving the Union when in reality 
it was for the purpose of extending the principles of the Chi- 
cago platform over the South. Under this cry for the Union,. 



IN WAR TIME 215 

the Democratic party supported the war, and the Administra- 
tion became more bold and from time to time put forth the 
real motive, seconded at every step by an Abolition Congress, 
until we have presented to us the emancipation of the negro. 
The subjugation or annihilation of the South is accompanied 
by the confiscation of the property finally to be divided up 
among the soldiers. Our army burn and destroy as they go ; 
send out armed bands, seize the negro and force him into the 
ranks to fight and kill his master. We have an account to-day 
from South Carolina giving a history of a raid made from Hil- 
ton Head by the celebrated Montgomery of Kansas notoriety, 
which is spread on the bulletins in glowing letters as a great 
feat, in which it is said that one thousand able bodied negroes 
have been secured for the army, a large quantity of furniture 
taken from the planters and more than fifty houses burned ; and 
this account has gladdened the faces of our Abolition friends. 
A fight is going on at Vicksburg and Fort Hudson with great 
slaughter on both sides ; and to-day it is announced that we have 
lost but one thousand men at Vicksburg, probably enough to 
satisfy the gnawings of an Abolition stomach. The papers 
will post you up in regard to the Peace Meeting in our city 
and the upheaving of the masses in consequence of the orders 
of Gen. Burnside. 

" To quiet public opinion the order for the suppression of 
a paper in the City of Chicago has been revoked by the Presi- 
dent. This seems to have allayed the excitement for the mo- 
ment, and the trial and sentence of Vallandigham remains in 
full. The fact appears to have been a feeler, Burnside being 
used as an instrument, but the threatened uprising of the 
people rendered it necessary to revoke a part, which has been 
done. If the people had taken the medicine kindly, the act 
would have been that of the President, but the rebellious ac- 
tion of the people made Burnside the man. 

" The people in New York are more outspoken than for- 
merly, even some begin to doubt the necessity of a war, and 
openly talk of peace to restore the Union ; but, my friend, 
there is no peace. Restoring the Union is to annihilate the 



2i6 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

Republican Party ; nor can Unionism and Republicanism ex- 
ist together ; the thing is impossible, consequently the Govern- 
ment goes in for putting down the rebellion and calls upon all 
loyal men everywhere to support the Government, and you 
cannot support the Government without supporting their 
measures ; consequently. Democrats support the Government 
and the Government carries on this fratricidal war, and the 
one means the other. Under these circumstances it appears 
to me that Democrats are hypocrites of the deepest dye. They 
support and condemn the war in the same breath. This is 
inconsistent and must be repudiated by the people if they ever 
come to their senses, or if the country is to be saved. 

" Our financial position is a strong one. We have added 
$400,000,000 to our currency and yet money is scarce. At the 
same time, people are rushing in with their money and taking 
the Five Twenties at the rate of from one to two millions per 
day. At the same time, gold is fallen, and confidence in Gov- 
ernment securities on the increase. The fall in gold may be 
partially accounted for by the almost total paralysis existing 
in business ; no merchandise changing hands, and no demand 
for exchange. 

" I believe the directors of the Great Western have re- 
sponded to all your suggestions relating to a foreign agency. 
I hope it will work well as it is a child of your own and will 
be creditable to the author. ... I suppose you will leave for 
home shortly after receiving this letter. What may take 
place in the meantime it is hard to say. The general impres- 
sion is that Vicksburg will fall, but my mind is slow in arriving 
at this conclusion. If the Confederates get no reinforcements, 
it is a question of time only. One thing I have not understood 
yet and that is what has become of Joe Johnston as he is called ; 
he may turn up very unexpectedly and change the whole pro- 
gramme. 

" Hoping you are well and looking forward for your safe 
return, I am dear sir, 

" Very truly yours, 

"W. G. Hunt." 



IN WAR TIME 217 

On this, my first trip abroad, I found that the German 
hotels, especially those in the Swiss watering places (such 
as the Hotel Baur-Sur-Lac, at Zurich) came nearer to 
the American standard than those of London or Paris. 
The Grand Hotel du Louvre had just been opened in 
Paris, but it did not afford, although the building was 
sumptuous and the cuisine excellent, the comforts of the 
hotels of New York. In London, the hotels were still 
of the tavern sort, and the better-class English families, 
while visiting London, went into lodgings ; strangers only 
put up at hotels. I recall Morley's, in Trafalgar Square, 
a plain, four-story brick building of perhaps forty or 
fifty feet front, differing from the other buildings in the block 
only in having a baywindow to light the coffee room, which 
was all the dining room there was. Here meals were served in 
the same general manner (but less neatly) as in our New York 
down-town eating houses. For breakfast, muffins, eggs, and 
fish, a large piece of cold roast beef, kept on a separate table 
to be served if called for, tea and coffee. At dinner the same 
substantial eatables were dispensed by a single waiter; and. 
at the end of the day, a long itemized bill of the charges for 
room, service, and food was handed each guest. The entrance 
hall was filled with trunks and other baggage to relieve the 
small bedrooms in the upper stories. Persons with families 
could have a private parlor in which meals were served, but 
fruit or ices had to be purchased separately. My room was 
a regular hall bedroom. The bed was a tall old-fashioned af- 
fair with a feather mattress resting on cords, and a canopy of 
calico, and so elevated as to need a stepladder. The wash- 
stand was of a three-cornered pattern to save room, and the 
ewer and basin were cracked. And yet this hotel is still popu- 
lar for English patronage, and had at that time many country 
members of Parliament as guests. 

It was about this time that the Langham began to be fre- 
quented by Americans. It was among the first departures 
from the old-fashioned inn for which England was celebrated. 
It was ornate architecturally, and contained spacious and well- 



2i8 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

ordered public and private apartments like the American 
hotels, but was indifferently managed. Having met with an 
accident, I fell under the professional care of a surgeon who 
happened to be one of the stockholders of the hotel. This sur- 
geon, who by force of making me daily visits grew to be very 
friendly, inquired how the Langham ranked in my estimation 
with the many hotels I had visited during the year. I replied 
that I regarded it as, perhaps, the best I had seen in Europe, 
but that it fell far short of first-class hotels in New York; 
and then I specified its many defects. The surgeon thereupon 
admitted frankly that their trustees realized that hotel manage- 
ment was an American accomplishment, and asked me if I 
knew where the Langham could procure a competent manager. 
I informed him that there was a Mr. Sanderson, then tempor- 
arily out of employment, in Europe, who could be obtained 
if suitable terms were offered him. This brought an investiga- 
tion of Mr. Sanderson's qualifications and led to his engage- 
ment. The example set by the Langham under Mr. Sanderson's 
management was largely followed in London, with the result 
that that city now possesses many admirable hostelries. 

While on the subject of hotels I will narrate an amusing 
experience which I had in Paris during one of my subsequent 
trips abroad. One day, on the Boulevard, I met the courricr 
who had served me on my first visit to Paris. It turned out 
that he was then in the service of Bishop Bedell, whom I knew 
well. He told me that the Bishop was stopping at the Hotel 
Continental, and would be glad to have me call. When I 
went to the hotel and asked the clerk to permit me to look 
over the register he replied in a very brusque, not to say con- 
temptuous, manner, " We don't permit our register to be in- 
spected by every casual caller, but if you think you have a 
friend here give me his name and I will see." 

Now, I have a most unfortunate memory for names — even 
those of my intimates- — and for the moment I could not think 
of the name Bedell ; but not wishing to confirm the suspicions 
of the clerk in the presence of the American guests whose 
attention had been attracted by his loud and supercilious tones. 



IN WAR TIME 219 

I seized upon the first name that occurred to me and boldly 
asked for Bishop Whitehouse of Illinois. The title of Bishop 
commands more respect in European hotels than that of any 
militan,' title — except that of Field Marshal — and the clerk on 
hearing it dropped his pomposity instantly, and replied in the 
blandest manner of which he was capable, " Your distinguished 
friend Bishop Whitehouse has engaged rooms here for next 
week by letter." "Are you sure," I remarked with a great show 
of delight, " that he will actually visit you? " " Quite sure; he 
is always our guest." " Then," said I, " I shall remain and 
be overjoyed to meet him again. He has been dead three 
years, but I have understood that all good Americans return 
to Paris after their death." The Americans who had wit- 
nessed the scene came forward with great glee and to the dis- 
gust of the clerk congratulated me on the early return of my 
friend, the Bishop, to Paris. 

On returning to New York from abroad in the fall of 1863, 
I drafted and secured the signatures of the principal mer- 
chants of New York to the following letter to Gideon Welles, 
the Secretary of the Navy : 

" New York, 28th Oct., 1863. 
" Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy, 

" Washington, D. C. 
" Sir: — The continued depredations of the rebel cruisers on 
the mercantile marine of the country have not only destroyed 
a large amount of the active capital of the merchants, but se- 
riously threatened the very existence of that valuable part 
of our commerce. Apart from the loss of so much individual 
wealth, and the destruction of so valuable a source of material 
power and enterprise, it is humiliating to our pride, as citizens 
of the first naval power on the earth, that a couple of in- 
diflferently equipped rebel cruisers should, for so long a period, 
threaten our commerce with annihilation. It is a painful 
source of mortification to every American at home and abroad, 
that the great highways of our commerce have hitherto been so 
unprotected by the almost total absence of national armed ves- 



220 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

sels, as to induce rebel insolence to attack our flag almost at 
the entrance of our harbors, and to actually blockade our mer- 
chantmen at the Cape of Good Hope recently ; an account of 
which you have herewith enclosed, being a copy of a letter 
recently received from a Captain of one of the blockaded ships, 
having a valuable cargo. We are conscious that it is no 
easy matter to capture a couple of cruisers on the boundless 
waters of the ocean, aided and abetted as they have too often 
been, at ports where international comity, if not international 
law, has been set at defiance, and we have witnessed with sat- 
isfaction the patriotic zeal and efifective energy of your de- 
partment, and the glorious successes of our navy in subduing 
the rebellion, which threatened our national union. Still we 
think that the loyal merchants and ship owners of the country, 
whose zeal and patriotic co-operation have generously fur- 
nished the funds to sustain the government, are entitled to 
have more energetic protection of their interests than has 
hitherto been extended to them. Your very arduous official 
duties have, no doubt, prevented you from investigating the 
serious inroads which the unprotected state of our carrying 
trade has produced on our tonnage ; and without troubling you 
with the great loss which our ship owners sustained in the 
almost total loss of foreign commerce, it is only necessary to 
call your attention to the enclosed table, prepared and pub- 
lished by one of the best informed commercial journals of 
this city, showing the loss of the carrying trade on the imports 
and exports of this city alone, by which you will perceive that, 
while during the quarter ending 30 June, i860, we imported 
and exported over $62,000,000 in x\merican vessels and but 
$30,000,000 in foreign vessels, we have in the corresponding 
quarter of this 3'ear only $23,000,000 by our own ships, while 
we have $65,000,000 by foreign vessels. The intermediate 
periods show a most painful decadence of our shipping inter- 
est and tonnage, by transfer and sale to foreign flags, which 
at this time of considerable commercial activity, does not so 
much indicate a want of enterprise in this field of occupation, 
as a want of confidence in the national protection of our flag 



IN WAR TIME 221 

on the ocean. The national pride of many of our patriotic 
ship owners has subjected them to heavy sacrifices in the dif- 
ference of insurance against capture of two to ten per cent. ; 
while the underwriters of the country have been compelled 
to make great concessions in favor of American shipping, yet 
without materially affecting the result. And many of them have 
encountered heavy losses by captures in quarters where they 
have had every reason to believe our commerce would be pro- 
tected by national vessels of efficiency and power. Indeed the 
almost total absence of efficient naval force in many of the 
great highways of commerce has had a damaging influence 
on our prospects by producing a great degree of temerity on 
the part of the rebel cruisers, and corresponding misgivings on 
the part of underwriters and others in interest, as to whether 
government protection would be afforded to our ships laden 
with valuable cargoes. The want of adequate armed vessels 
and prominent naval stations for the protection of our ships 
has become so notorious that underwriters have no longer 
speculated on the chance of the capture of these rebel cruisers 
by any of our national ships, but calculate only the chances 
of escape of our merchantmen, or the possible destruction of 
the piratical craft from reported unseaworthiness or mutiny. 

" These statements are made with all candor, and in no 
spirit of captiousness, but with a desire to concede that the em- 
barrassment of the department, which it may not be prudent or 
practical to explain to the public, may fully justify the unfor- 
tunate position which the want of naval protection has placed 
our commerce in. Yet it is respectfully urged that you will 
give this subject the benefit of the same energy and ability 
which have so creditably marked the administration of your 
department in all other channels of your official duties. No 
one can better comprehend, than one in your position, the 
value of successful commerce at this time of great national 
expenditure ; and a paralysis of so important an interest can- 
not be contemplated without horror, at this period of our 
national struggle. 

" We beg leave also to enclose an extract from the Com- 



222 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

merical Advertiser of 26th inst. and request your attention to 
the paragraph marked. 

" We are, Sir, very respectfully 

" Your obedient servants, 
" (Signed) 

" Richard Lathers^ President Great Western Ins. Co. 
" J. P. Tappan, President Neptune. 
" F. S. Lathrop, President Union Mutual. 
" M. H. GrinneLj President Sun. 
" Robert L. Taylor, Merchant Owner. 
" C. H. Marshall, Merchant Owner. 
" A. A. Low & Bros., Merchant Owners. 
" Grinnel, Minturn & Co., Merchant Ship Owners. 
" Wilson G. Hunt, Merchant. 
" Charles Newcomb, V. President Mercantile Mutual Ins. 

Co. 
" Brown Bros. & Co., Bankers. 
" W. T. Frost, Merchant Ship Owner. 
" Rogers & Kneeland, Merchants. 
" Duncan Sherman & Co., Bankers. 
" RucHLiN & Crane, Merchant Ship Owners. 
" E. E. Morgan, Merchant Ship Owner. 
" Wm. Whitlock, Jr., Merchant Ship Owner. 
" George Opdyke, Mayor New York City. 
" August Belmont & Co., Bankers. 
" James G. King Sons, Bankers. 
" Archibald Gracie, Merchant. 

" Howland & Frothingham, Merchant Ship Owners. 
" Williams & Guion, Merchant Ship Owners. 
" John H. Earle, President N. Y. Mutual Ins. Co. 
" Isaac Sherman, Merchant Ship Owner. 
" W. A. Sale & Co., Merchant Ship Owners. 
" Thomas Dunham, Merchant Ship Owner. 
" Spofford, Tileson & Co., Merchant Ship Owners. 
" Babcock Bros. & Co., Bankers. 

" J. PiERPONT Morgan & Co., Merchant Ship Owners. 
" E. D. Morgan & Co., U. S. Senator." 



IN WAR TIME 223 

To this communication the Secretary sent the following 
response : 

" Navy Department, Washington, Nov. 14, 1863. 
" Richard Lathers, Esq., Prest. Great Western Insurance 

Co., 
" J. P. Tappan, Esq., Prest. Neptune Insurance Co., and other 

merchants and underwriters. New York. 
" Gentlemen: — The Department duly received your com- 
munication of the 28th ultimo, in reference to the depreda- 
tions committed upon American commerce by the Alabama 
and other rebel cruisers. The pursuit and capture of these 
vessels is a matter that the Department has had constantly in 
view, and swift steamers have been continually in search of 
them and, at times, very close on to them. They are under 
orders to follow them wherever they may go. 

" The only vessel which had the impudence to attack our 
flag at the entrance of our harbors, the Tacony, was promptly 
pursued and her career was soon terminated. The Depart- 
ment had about thirty vessels after her. I thank you for your 
expression that energy and ability have creditably marked the 
administration of this Department in all other channels of 
official duties. A rigid blockade of the coast has been de- 
manded and its accomplishment has required all the available 
force that the Department could bring to bear. To do this 
it could not well dispatch a larger force than it has in search 
of piratical rovers. It will contiue to give this subject its 
attention and hopes as the avenues to the insurrectionary region 
are becoming closed and the Navy is enlarging, to be able to 
have a larger force to pursue the pirates and secure the 
safety of our commerce abroad. 

" Very respectfully, etc., 

" Gideon Welles, 

" Sec'y of the Navy." 

On coming from my residence in New Rochelle to the city 
on May 12, 1864, 1 found the business district in a state of great 



224 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

excitement by reason of the appearance in two of the morning 
papers, the Journal of Commerce and the World, of a procla- 
mation of President Lincoln announcing very sensational and 
discouraging military disasters, and calling for an immediate 
increase of the army by 400,000 men. This proclamation 
was an ingenious forgery, but it was widely accepted as gen- 
uine because of its apparent regularity. That the Tribune and 
Herald and other less prominent papers did not publish it was 
quite easily accounted for by the lateness of the hour (the 
early morning) when it was received, many of the papers 
having by that time closed their news columns and begun 
printing the morning editions for the mails. On reaching my 
office, I found Captain Charles H. Marshall and Mr. A. A. 
Low, both earnest Republicans, prominent merchants, officials 
in the Chamber of Commerce and in the Union Defense Com- 
mittee, who said to me, " You are so intimate with the Journal 
of Commerce, go down and learn where they got the authority 
for a government statement withheld from every Republican 
paper." I had an interview at once with Mr. Stone, who was 
one of the most conservative and cautious editors in the city. 
At first he regarded this early publication as an evidence only 
of the greater activity and enterprise of his night editor. When 
I suggested that it was very strange that no Republican organ 
had been favored with so important a piece of news by its 
own Administration, he seemed to be impressed and sent for 
the telegraphic dispatch. This dispatch was in all respects — 
paper, heading, form, etc., — like former dispatches from the 
same source. I said, " This looks all right, but the circum- 
stances are so peculiar that I advise you to telegraph to the 
Secretary of State for his direct authentication." Mr. Stone 
did this immediately, but, from some cause not creditable to 
Mr. Seward, he did not receive a reply imtil the day after the 
fraud was exposed. I quote further details of this case from 
Dr. Morgan Dix's biography of his father: 

" General Dix immediately commenced an investigation of 
the fraud, and wrote the same day to the Secretary of War, 
exonerating the editors of the city newspapers from the 



IN WAR TIME 225 

charge of complicity in the affair, assuring the Government 
that the authors of the crime would probably soon be detected, 
and promising, in that case, their immediate arrest and punish- 
ment. But, unfortunately, the Secretary of War, no doubt 
under the influence of passionate excitement, obtained an 
order from the President for the immediate arrest of the 
editors, proprietors and publishers of the World and Journal 
of Commerce. The General commanding the Department 
obeyed his orders, as a matter of course, though fully aware 
of the blunder made by his chief; a blunder of which Mr. 
Stanton became almost immediately sensible, as he counter- 
manded his order on the following day. It is the first duty 
of the soldier to obey. General Dix had nothing to do but to 
execute the orders of the President, and no responsibility for 
them ; nor could he have evaded that duty except by resigna- 
tion of his commission, a step not to be thought of for a mo- 
ment in time of war and at a most critical period in the history 
of the country. And yet, because he acted on that occasion 
as became a soldier, he was made, for a long time afterwards, 
the mark of invidious criticism, and was compelled to bear 
the blame of another's rashness." 

The evening after the arrests referred to above, I made a 
social call on General and Mrs. Dix in company with Judge 
Barbour of the Supreme Court. Mrs. Dix, who was not only 
a charming woman but wonderfully proficient in public mat- 
ters, said to the Judge, " Do you approve of the arrest of these 
two editors by the General ? " The Judge, a plain-spoken and 
candid man, said, " Madame, as a jurist and a Democrat I 
greatly regret that the obligation of the General, as a soldier, 
to obey orders has made it necessary for him to do as he has 
done ; and I very much fear that his friends will fail to con- 
sider that he was powerless to prevent this high-handed and 
shocking proceeding. It is a well-established principle that 
in a free government the military power must not override 
civil rights in those places where civil tribunals are open." 
Mrs. Dix immediately replied, " Judge, I agree with you per- 



226 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

fectly." How far the sound views of this well-informed and 
prominent Democratic lady influenced the General's corre- 
spondence with the Secretary of War on this occasion or 
strengthened his conservative attitude towards military ar- 
rests while commanding in the South, must be left to con- 
jecture. We know that Napoleon and other great captains 
often profited by the conservative influence of their intelli- 
gent wives. 

A similar exercise of despotic power, earlier in the war, 
drove Gerard Hallock from the editorship of the New York 
Journal of Commerce — the method of the Government having 
been to suppress this paper and then to intimate that the em- 
bargo would be raised if Hallock would withdraw. 

The victim of these unworthy tactics was among the most 
distinguished and energetic journalists of New York, and, in- 
deed, of the United States. He began his career in Boston 
in 1824, and continued it on the New York Observer (the 
conservative Presbyterian organ of the country), which he 
left to become associated with David Hale in the Journal of 
Commerce, in 1828. He inaugurated the plan of sending out 
fast-sailing schooners to intercept the packets in order to se- 
cure the earliest news from Europe, and of getting the first 
announcements from Washington by means of relays of 
horses. His paper was the conservative mercantile and ship- 
ping organ of the city, and an advertising medium highly ap- 
preciated by the leading produce and shipping firms regardless 
of their political affiliations. 

He was a firm Union man, and wrote and signed the call 
for the " Pine Street Meeting," and was, up to the time he was 
deprived of his paper, a liberal contributor in money and in- 
fluence to every Union movement. Like all conservative Union 
men, he regarded sectional controversy as disloyal, whether 
indulged in by Abolitionists at the North or Secessionists at 
the South. A stern defender of the rights of the South under 
the Constitution, and as sternly against Secession and the 
fanaticism to which it led, he neither justified a rupture of the 
Union by the South nor approved of the war spirit in the North. 




Gerard Hallock 
Reproduced from an old photograph. 



IN WAR TIME 227 

He was a sincere friend of the colored race, as was attested 
by his constant disbursement of money for their needy at 
the North, and his gifts to the individual freedmen of the 
South who appealed to him. 

He was a fine exemplar of what was best in New England 
Puritanism, being a devoted Deacon of one of the oldest Con- 
gregational churches of Connecticut, and not only a generous 
supporter of that church, but a liberal dispenser of charity 
throughout his city. He was one of the founders of the South- 
ern Aid Society when the American Home Alissionary Society 
withdrew its support from slave-holding churches. I insert 
here a letter sent by Mr. Hallock to his son, William H. Hal- 
lock, soon after he was hounded into giving up his editorship. 
It tells its own story : 

" New Haven, Nov. 22nd, 1862. 
" To William H. Hallock, Esq. 

"Dear William:—! am much obliged to my friend, Mr. 
Lathers, for inviting me to join his circle of Honorables next 
Monday, but it is out of my line. I would be no good. Having 
received my walking papers from the highest authority, I 
consider myself entitled to enjoy the benefit of them. My 
heart, however, is cordially, warmly, enthusiastically, with all 
such men as you name, and I now feel great confidence that 
they will soon triumph in the nation at large (as they have al- 
ready done in your own and other States) whether you con- 
sider the nation as embracing the Southern Confederacy or 
not. When that point is reached, peace will soon follow. But 
peace with Bk. Republicans, who in connection with these 
others, the Abolitionists are responsible for this cruel war, is 
impossible. When they are out of the way, the South will be 
prepared to negotiate, I do not say for a return, but I hope so, 
to the Union on their part ; but if, unfortunately, for separa- 
tion, on terms which would secure to the North some of the 
advantages of the old Union which has been so wantonly and 
wickedly destroyed. In the last two days I have been read- 
ing Prof. Wm. C. Fowler's book entitled ' Sectional Contro- 



228 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

versy.' It is an admirable work consisting largely of docu- 
mentary extracts, many of which, to be sure, have been pub- 
lished in the /. of Commerce, chiefly during the year or two 
previous to my leaving that establishment, but they are now 
presented in a convenient and accessible form, and show con- 
clusively and in a very quiet way that this war is the culmina- 
tion of the efforts of the Abolitionists in connection with their 
aiders and abettors the Blk. Republicans, and that the Ship 
of State has been drifting directly towards these breakers for 
the last thirty years. If this book could have been read by 
the American people generally three years ago, my opinion is 
that it would have prevented this war, by preventing the elec- 
tion of a President and Congress who have fulfilled the most 
ardent wishes of the Abolitionists, by arraying the whole 

power of the North, Democrats and all, against the 

South, nominally for the preservation of the Union, but really 
for its destruction. I do not mean that the President and Con- 
gress, particularly the former, desire the destruction of the 
Union, but only that this was a very necessary result of the 
course they pursued. In the meantime. Abolitionism and the 
Devil are gloating over the mischief they have done and shout- 
ing (see Anti-Slavery Standard after Lincoln called out his 
first 7S,ooo men), 'Glory to God in the Highest!' 'Stand 
still and see the salvation of the Lord ' ! That is stand still 
and see the mighty power of the North exhausted upon the 
South for the destruction of its whole population and the in- 
stallation of the blacks in their place. But enough of this. I 
think I see a gleam of day, but it is still through black clouds 
of desolation and woe. I thank God I can wash my hands 
from all participation in the guilt of this war, that is, all vol- 
untary participation, and no other involves moral guilt before 

God 

" Cordially yours, 

" Father." 

All history goes to show that civil contests, even for the vindi- 
cation of governmental authority, are apt to develop, through 



IN WAR TIME 229 

partisan pressure, a total disregard of private riglits and of 
law. Some time before the close of the war a New York 
paper published a list of 250 cases of illegal arrests of editors 
and suspensions of their journals by order of Government 
officials without any authority from any court of record — in 
direct violation of that clause of the Constitution which says : 
" The right of the people to be secure in their persons, 
house, papers and effects against unreasonable search and 
seizure, shall not be violated; and no warrant shall issue but 
upon probable cause supported upon oath or affirmation and 
particularly describing the place to be searched and the per-_ 
son or things to be seized." Secretary of State Seward is 
well known to have made this boast to the British Minister, 
Lord Lyons. " I can touch a bell on my right hand and order 
the arrest of a citizen of Ohio. I can touch a bell again, 
and order the imprisonment of a citizen of New York, and no 
power on earth, except that of the President of the United 
States, can release them. Can the Queen of England do as 
much ? " 

In the spring of 1861 Chief Justice Taney issued a writ 
of attachment against General Cadwallader for contempt of 
court in attempting to make an arrest authorized by the sus- 
pension of the Habeas Corpus Act, which suspension the Gen- 
eral claimed to be by the authority of the President. Judge 
Taney said, in this writ, that the President had no right to 
suspend the Act or to authorize others to do so ; that military 
officers had no right to make arrests except in aid of judicial 
authority ; that persons so arrested must be delivered to the 
civil authorities to be dealt with according to law ; that the 
military authority was subordinate to the civil, and under or- 
dinary circumstances it would be the duty of the Marshal to 
proceed to bring the offending General into court ; but, as, in 
the present case, it would be impossible to do so, he should 
prepare an opinion and forward it to the President calling upon 
him to enforce the decision of the Court. The opinion was 
published all over the country as the law of the land, but, 
like the clauses of the Constitution on the same subject, was 



230 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

totally ignored by the Secretary of War : hence the large num- 
ber of illegal arrests to which I have called attention. 

September 6, 1864, I delivered an address before the Mer- 
cantile Library Association (of which I had just been elected 
an honorary member) on the dignity, power, and civilizing 
efficacy of commerce from the beginning of the exchange of 
commodities down to the marvelous trade triumphs of Great 
Britain and our own country. My interest in the work of this 
library has been constant and my relations thereto rank among 
the pleasantest of my memories. 



CHAPTER VIII 

AFTER THE WAR 

On coming to the city from my residence at New Rochelle, 
April 15, 1865, I found the utmost consternation prevaihng 
among all classes owing to the assassination of President 
Lincoln and the attempt on the life of Secretary of State 
Seward. The streets were filled with excited crowds. I 
hastened to the store of A. T. Stewart & Co., to procure 
bombazine with which to drape my office. Early as it was in 
the morning, others had been there before me, and the clerks 
would sell only a limited quantity of bombazine to any one 
person because the stock was nearly exhausted. Every build- 
ing in the city was literally covered with this emblem of 
sorrow. 

While superintending the draping of the Great Western 
building in William Street, I witnessed several violent attacks 
upon innocent persons whom the exasperated crowd had singled 
out as Secessionists or sympathizers with the South. 

Thus, a most respectable Northern commission merchant, 
who was honest enough to say that the South should not be 
held responsible for the acts of madmen and assassins, es- 
caped with his life only by taking refuge in a cellar, whence 
he was able to get unperceived into a side street. Many South- 
erners called at the office of the Great Western in the utmost 
alarm. I advised them to return to their hotels and lock 
themselves into their rooms for the day. In due time it was 
ascertained that the crime was that of a madman, and that it 
evoked no sympathy at the South, where, on the contrary, 
the deepest regret was expressed for the loss of the President, 
who had been the friend and protector of that section ; and 
then the crowd abandoned the streets and went quietly to their 
homes. 

231 



232 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

A few days later I delivered at New Rochelle an address 
upon Lincoln in which I reprobated in the strongest terms 
the deed of the assassin, and praised the admirable qualities 
of the martyred President. 

I also delivered an address on Lincoln at Tammany Hall, 
New York. In fact, this was my last active connection with 
Tammany, although I concurred with that organization un- 
til it stultified itself by advocating Bryanism. 

The Civil War, which commenced with the firing on Fort 
Sumter, April 12th, 1861, may be said to have been terminated 
by the review and disbanding of General Sherman's army of 
70,000 veterans in Washington, May 24th, 1865, this being 
the last scene in the last act of the great military drama. 

The abolition of slavery, interwoven as this institution was 
with the daily thought and life of both races, was productive 
of suffering, at the time, to all classes in the South. This 
sudden disruption of the accustomed relations, which, after 
all, had many redeeming qualities, led to a ruinous decline in 
the value of the land which had been tilled by slave labor ; 
this, too, at a period when personal property and all forms of 
wealth had suffered from the ravages of war. To aggravate 
the situation, hordes of corrupt adventurers from the North, 
who were in some cases felons from Northern prisons, swooped 
down on these impoverished States. Encouraged and sup- 
ported by sectional partisans in and out of Congress, and armed 
with oppressive, unconstitutional laws which elevated the slave 
above his master and the stranger above the native, they de- 
veloped a degree of corruption, despotism, and bankruptcy 
without example in the history of civilization. These despoilers 
of the land were first called by the observant negroes, " carpet- 
baggers '' from the fact that they came to the South with no 
other baggage or property than their carpet-bags. " Them 
buckra with carpet-bags," was the way in which the negroes 
commonly referred to them. 

The supremacy of national authority having been absolutely 
established, the public mind was divided as to the attitude to 
be adopted towards the South. Were the Southern States 



AFTER THE WAR 233 

to be regarded and treated as conquered provinces? That 
they should be so regarded and treated was the desire of a 
class of sectional politicans who were given the whip hand 
in Congress by the unfortunate assassination of the true friend 
of the South, President Lincoln, whose patriotic affection em- 
braced all sections of our country. There was no warrant, 
direct or implied, in our Constitution for the destruction or 
limitation of the equal rights of any State in the Union for 
any cause whatever, and there was no provision for conquered 
provinces. The triumph of the arms of the Union was not 
over States, as Mr. Lincoln remarked, but over rebellious 
citizens of States. As the Union was indestructible, so, too, 
the equal rights of the States were indestructible, and could not 
be impaired either by the actual rebellion of its citizens or by 
the possibility of future disloyalty. As the crime of rebellion 
was personal, such rebellion could not justify a violation of 
the Constitution by the Government in its dealings with the 
States. The South was in rebellion when it denied the sov- 
ereignty of the Union, and organized war against it ; the North 
was likewise in rebellion when it denied the equal rights of 
the States and obstructed the exercise of them. 

The desire of the better elements of the South to accept 
any terms proposed by the Government was so strong that 
they readily submitted to even the illegal and degrading con- 
ditions imposed by the policy of the party in power in 1867. 
The substantial industrial and commercial interests were re- 
solved to enjoy the peace and security of civil law, even though 
they were coupled with the humiliations of negro suffrage and 
the loss of suffrage by native white citizens. But they were 
mistaken in their haste for local government under negro rule. 
It would have been better in every respect for them — and for 
the whole country — to have been ruled by the intelligent and 
responsible army officers, then in the South, than to have been 
robbed and insulted by the negroes and carpet-baggers who 
were set over them ; and it would have been quite as consti- 
tutional. 

President Lincoln's eloquent appeal to the South, in his 



234 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

Inaugural on the eve, of the war, closed with this fraternal 
utterance, " In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, 
and not in mine, are the momentous issues of civil war. The 
government will not assail you. You can have no conflict 
without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath 
in heaven to destroy the government, while I have the most 
solemn to preserve, protect and defend it. I am loath to 
close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be 
enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break 
our bond of affection. The mystic chords of memory stretch 
from every battle field and patriotic grave to every heart and 
hearth-stone all over this broad land, and will yet swell the 
chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will 
be, by the better angels of their nature." I envy not the 
American, South or North, who can read these inspired lines 
without emotion. Allow me to quote here a paragraph from 
President Lincoln's Inaugural of 1865, also : — " With malice 
towards none, urith charity for all, with firmness in the right 
as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the 
work we are in ; to bind up the nation's wounds ; to care for 
him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and 
for his orphan; to do all that may achieve and cherish a just 
and a lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." 

These two Inaugurals were worthy of the patriot who ut- 
tered them. In the first, in 1861, he earnestly counseled, with 
fatherly solicitude, reflection and moderation on the part of the 
South before taking the rash step of rebellion, and, in the sec- 
ond, which was virtually the last recorded expression of his 
wise and broad statesmanship, he counseled the North, with 
equal fervor, to exercise moderation and to cultivate fraternal 
feelings towards the vanquished South. 

The restoration of the Union was accepted in good faith 
by the citizens of the South. There was not a single case of 
opposition to a full exercise of the proper functions of govern- 
ment in any section of the late Confederacy. The soldiers, 
statesmen, and citizens of both sides mingled and co-operated 
freely. But the fair promise of these fraternal relations was 



AFTER THE WAR 235 

blighted by the passage and execution of partisan and sectional 
measures quite out of harmony with President Lincoln's part- 
ing advice. In the admirable " History of the Growth of Amer- 
ica," by Professor Henry Pratt Judson, of the University of 
Chicago, may be found the following graphic description of 
the unfortunate period immediately following the War: 

" The negroes had not been made free by a wise process of 
gradual emancipation, as had been done in the Northern States ; 
but ties which bound them to their masters were rudely burst 
by war and a sweeping constitutional amendment. Thus the 
mass of negroes, untrained, improvident, ignorant, and shift- 
less, were suddenly thrown on their own resources. To main- 
tain social order, to prevent lawlessness and crime, to insure 
against actual starvation and a relapse into barbarism on the 
part of the negroes — this was no easy task The re- 
construction of the Southern States under the plan of Congress, 
meant Negro suffrage. The blacks very generally voted and 
acted as a mass with the Republican party, as was natural, 
Their leaders were in general adventurers from the North who 
saw a chance for prominence in the solid colored vote, though 
there were some Southern whites, to their disgrace, who acted 
with them. The negroes found an eager delight in politics, 
and the reconstructed State legislatures were filled with 
them." 

It was certainly without justification, as it was without pre- 
cedent, to depress intelligence and elevate ignorance as was 
done in South Carolina by disfranchising the white property 
holders — hitherto the governing class — and conferring suffrage 
on the illiterate negro population ; and, as if to degrade as well 
as to despoil the impoverished white natives, to send into the 
State, as Federal officeholders, a horde of dishonest ad- 
venturers who corrupted the ignorant freedmen, and, with 
their aid, despoiled the owners of property by every form of 
official and legislative misrule known to knavery and despot- 
ism. If this was, as is alleged, an Administration measure for 
the protection of the negro on the one hand, and for the punish- 
ment of the whites for rebellion on the other, it was a measure 



236 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

in as clear violation of the letter and spirit of the Constitu- 
tion as the attempted secession. 

The carpet-baggers enriched themselves with the substance 
of the property owners of both races. Catering to the negroes' 
love of display, they bestowed upon them nearly all the honorary 
military and civil offices, but retained practically all the salaried 
offices for themselves. I cannot recall a single high-salaried 
office in South Carolina (except, perhaps, the postmastership 
in Charleston for a short period) which was not filled by a 
white carpet-bagger. 

The South Carolina Legislature was almost entirely com- 
posed of negroes and carpet-baggers. The military forces 
were chiefly officered by negroes, who thus satisfied their pas- 
sion for fine clothes. The Governor was an illiterate carpet- 
bagger from Ohio ; the Lieutenant-Governor, an uneducated 
negro wharf laborer whom I had often seen at work upon 
the Charleston wharves ; the Chief Justice of the State Court, 
an ignorant negro from Pennsylvania ; the State Attorney Gen- 
eral, the only educated man of the lot, a carpet-bagger from 
New England. The leader in the Legislature, who was also 
the commander of the State Militia, was a South Carolina 
plantation negro. The leader in the Senate, Senator Raney, 
afterwards a member of Congress, was a Charleston barber of 
whose services, as well as of those of his father before him, I 
had often availed myself ; he was the only colored man of gen- 
erally recognized intelligence and integrity connected with the 
State government, and he was deprived ultimately of both 
his State senatorship and his place as representative to make 
room for white carpet-baggers. The Mayor of Charleston was 
a white carpet-bagger from Maine ; the U. S. District Attorney, 
a white carpet-bagger ; and the Judges of the State Court, white 
carpet-baggers. 

The statistics of South Carolina for 1874 show that there 
were 200 negro Trial Justices who could neither read nor 
write ; and the negro School Commissioners, equally ignorant, 
were paid $1,000 a year for their services. 

Ex-Governor Tillman began his memorable speech before 



AFTER THE WAR 237 

the Convention of South Carolina, in November, 1895, with 
a vivid description of the condition of South Carolina when the 
negro was in power. 

In eight years, according to this erratic but truthful author- 
ity, the carpet-bag government collected $10,165,114 in taxes; 
more than $5,000,000 in excess of the expenses of the govern- 
ment. A barroom was opened in the Senate building for 
State officials, Judges, Senators, Members of the House, law- 
yers, editors, and citizens generally. The Legislature blos- 
somed out in $600 clerks, $8 cuspidores, $200 crimson plush 
sofas, sponge mattresses and oriental pillows, $60 plush Gothic 
chairs, $80 library tables, $30 hat racks, $50 desks, $170 office 
desks, $100 wardrobes, body brussels carpeting, finest Havana 
cigars, champagne, $600 mirrors, $600 brocatelle curtains, 
lambrequins, and $80 walnut and gilt cornices. The cost of 
printing during the eight years of negro rule was $717,589 — • 
more than the printing bills of the State for seventy-eight 
years previous. Fraud reigned supreme, checks were altered, 
bonds issued illegally, the honor and credit of the State 
dragged in the dust. 

" Why," cried Tillman, " there are South Carolina bonds 
quoted in the stock lists of New York at one cent on the dollar, 
to the shame of this Commonwealth. That was one result of 
negro domination. I went with the State Treasurer to New 
York two years ago in the hope of floating our securities, and 
we were dogged by the agents of Henry Clews, who said : 
' Pay these bonds that bear the seal of your State or you can 
have no recognition in our money markets.' 

" The negroes were the tools, the acknowledged tools, par- 
ticipators, the willing tools. The poor, ignorant cotton-field 
hands blindly followed like sheep wherever the white and 
black leaders told them to go, and voted unanimously every 
time for the Republican ticket ; and these results were achieved 
solely and wholly by reason of the ballot in the hands of such 
cattle." 

It is only fair to admit, however, that the exclusion of white 
natives from the Legislature was due in part to the unwise 



238 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

neglect of the reputable white element to use its influence. I 
have always believed that the more conservative negroes 
would have favored this element if their old masters had recog- 
nized and co-operated with them at the first. 

There were scallawag natives, to be sure, who were, if pos- 
sible, more corrupt than the strangers — notably Governor 
Franklin J. Moses, who fled the Executive Mansion at Colum- 
bia and landed eventually in a Northern state prison ; and 
there were among the so-called carpet-baggers honest, capable, 
and enterprising men who were not accorded by the natives 
the sympathy and support they deserved. 

In Charleston I became acquainted with a carpet-bagger 
from Ohio, " General Scott," as he was called, who held the 
office of Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau. He per- 
formed the duties of his office with ability and firmness. And 
it is simple justice to remark that had the administration of 
Mr. Scott as Governor of the State, and that of his intelligent 
and conservative successor. Chamberlain of Massachusetts, re- 
ceived the support of the conservative white citizens instead 
of being visited with constant abuse by them, much might have 
been done for the property holders. No allowance was made 
for the relations of these officials to their party, and in many 
cases when they openly antagonized their party their hands 
were not strengthened. It must not be forgotten that Ex-Gov- 
ernor Chamberlain, as an active member of the Tax-payers' 
Convention, made an able speech for reform, and that Gov- 
ernor Scott expressed active sympathy with this Convention. 

The fact that I aided Governor Scott in raising funds in 
New York to enable him to meet the expenses of the State 
government till money could be raised by taxation, brought me 
into a degree of business intimacy with him which had to be 
suspended later, as he came under party control and the legis- 
lative frauds began to develop. It is my opinion, however, that 
Scott was a mere tool, and reaped but little if any benefit from 
the frauds with which he became more or less entangled. 

On one occasion, while I was in Columbia, he requested me 
to accompany him to the Assembly Chamber, where, in a com- 



AFTER THE WAR 239 

mittee room, I was introduced to a large number of the As- 
sembly members and political leaders, who were drinking 
whisky from a large keg, the faucet of which was kept open 
as long as we remained, since visitors were constantly coming 
and going. 

The morning fixed for the adjournment of one of the South 
Carolina assemblies (that of 1873, I think), a member moved 
that the House adjourn for three hours to witness a race be- 
tween the horses of the white Speaker, Moses, and the colored 
leader, Whippen. It was arranged, the maker of the motion 
said, that carriages should convey members to and from the 
race course promptly, and the business of the day would suffer 
but little by the two or three hours' interruption. On the 
return of the Assemblymen from the races, the business of the 
House, which consisted chiefly of resolutions of thanks to 
committees and chairmen of committees, was quickly dis- 
patched. Mr. Whippen, whose horse had won the race over 
that the speaker, moved that a $6000 gratuity be given to 
the Speaker for his arduous labors during the session. The 
motion was unanimously carried, and Moses turned the money 
over to Whippen in payment of the racing debt he had just 
contracted. 

It must not be lost sight of that the defeated Secessionists 
were of Revolutionary stock, and while they deserved and, 
indeed, received ample correction for their disloyalty to the 
National Government, the infliction upon them of an ignorant 
and corrupt negro and carpet-bag government was unworthy 
of modern civilization, and has brought down on the parties 
responsible therefor the indignation of every genuine lover 
of civil liberty. 

The irregularities and violence of this period at the South, 
which have been very much exaggerated for partisan purposes, 
were largely the outcome of indignant opposition to carpet- 
bag and negro misrule, and were never directed against the 
laws or the officials of the United States. They were the 
inevitable result of the partisan attempt to set aside the Ameri- 
can right of local self-government by the introduction of corrupt 



I-'! 



240 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

adventurers from abroad. It is an interesting fact that as soon 
as the people of the Southern States were permitted to govern 
themselves, perfect peace was at once restored and submission 
to law became there a matter of pride. 

In the years immediately succeeding the Civil War I re- 
ceived from my impoverished Southern acquaintances nu- 
merous appeals for help, a few of which I present herewith 
because they depict, better than pages of description could, the 
deplorable conditions for which that conflict was directly or 
indirectly responsible, and give an admirable idea of the 
courage with which these conditions were met : 

" Georgetown, March 23, 1865. 
" Richard Lathers, Esq. 

" My Dear Sir: — You are doubtless aware that this place 
has been occupied by the United States' forces for some weeks. 
Several families remain here, mine among the rest. We have 
been treated kindly. The negroes (now liberated) remain for 
the most part on the plantations; but whether or not a crop 
will be made, is a question yet to be determined. If not, the 
consequences will be appalling. Having been shut out from 
the rest of the world for four years, we are (I speak more 
particularly of myself, but have not a doubt that my brother 
rebels are all in the same predicament), destitute of almost 
everything — sugar, tea and coffee are among the luxuries that 
were. Our condition is not likely to improve very soon, and 
if the war continues much longer, must become worse. 

" In such an exigency, I have on reflection and from my 
knowledge of your kindness and liberality, determined to apply 
to you for aid. The only security I can give you is my char- 
acter. Your knowledge of this, will, I trust, be a sufficient 
guarantee for any advance you may determine to make for 
me. I have hurriedly prepared a list of such things as we 
require, including medicines, and shall inclose it with this to 
you. In addition, I will also want some money (one or two 
hundred dollars). We have now to hire our servants and I 
have no greenbacks, and with things in their present chaotic 



AFTER THE WAR 241 

condition, cannot make any. Mr. Eraser wrote to Dolner & 
Potter on the same business as I now write to you about, and 
should you accede to my earnest request, perhaps you had best 
confer with them as to the manner of having the goods brought 
here. Pray write to me at your earHest convenience. 
" Very respectfully and truly yours. 



" Two calico and one gingham dress for Mrs. , light 

mourning — the same for each of my two daughters, grave 
colors — two dozen pairs of ladies' stockings — two dozen cheap 
linen cambric handks. — two pieces cotton shirting — twenty 
yards white flannel — six pair thicksoled serviceable ladies' 
shoes, No. 3I — three pairs of the same No. 4 — two pairs shoes 
for myself, No. 64 — three papers large and three of small pins 
— four papers 7, 8 & 9 needles — 6 dozen hooks and eyes — i 
bar Castile soap — a dozen assorted spool cotton — i ounce black 
sewing silk — i dozen pieces tape — three pair of scissors — thiee 
hair-brushes and four combs — six tooth-brushes — three silver 
thimbles No. 7 — one large umbrella. 

" Groceries ; one barrel wheat flour — one do. potatoes — one 
barrel of beef — one do. of pork — five hundred pounds of bacon, 
ham and sides — two hundred pounds of sugar (clarified) — 
one hundred pounds Java coffee — six pounds best Hyson tea — 
five gallons brandy — five gallons whisky — five gallons brown 
sherry wine — one firkin of best butter — 100 lbs. lard — ^black 
pepper 2 lbs., allspice 2 lbs. — nutmegs ^ lb. — one box adaman- 
tine candles or sperm. 

" I piece cheap calico for servants. 

" List of Medicines. 

Quinine, ounces 4 Es. of Peppermint, ounces 6 

Gum Opium, ounces 2 Paregoric, ounces 12 

Pulv. Opium, ounces 2 Laudanum, ounces 6 

Hippo, ounces 2 Chloroform, ounces 12 

Pulv. Rhubard, ounces 2 Hartshorn, ounces 12 

Calomel, ounces 2 Dover's Powders, ounces 2 

Blue Mass, ounces 4 Camp. Dov. Powder, ounces 2 



242 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 



Epsom Salts, pounds 
Rochelle Salts, pounds 
Gum Arabic, pounds 
Citrate of Potash, pounds 
Carb. of Potash (Salts of 

Tartar), pounds 
Citric Acid, pounds 
Soda (Carbonate), pounds 
Castor Oil, bottles 
Sweet Oil, bottles 
Mustard, lbs. 
Blister plaster, lbs. 
Nitrate of Silver, drachms 



Morphine, drachms 
Citrate of Iron, ounces 
Gum Camphor, ounces 
Tinct. Veratrum Viride, 

ounces 
Tinct. of Aconite, ounces 
Syrup of Hippo, ounces 
Hive Syrup, ounces 
Magnesia (Henry's cal- 
cined), phials 
Cream of Tartar, lbs. 
Ginger, lbs. 
Es. Jamaica Ginger, bot. 



3 
I 

12 



4 

2 

4 
I 
I 
6 



" Georgetown, March 29, 1865. 
" Richard Lathers, Esq. 

" My Dear Sir: — I took the liberty of addressing a letter to 
you a few days ago, and I believe it has been forwarded, per- 
haps received. My object in writing was to ask for what I 
have never asked before — pecuniary aid. I mentioned in that 
letter that the only security I could give for the return of what 
you may be disposed to advance, was my character. This War 
luckily found me out of debt. All property in slaves is value- 
less (I write now as if the War was at an end, for I must 
believe it very soon will be, and that we of the South have been 
fairly whipped). What remains of my estate will be real 
estate, bank stocks & individual securities — all once good, some, 
now probably, good for nothing. There is no doubt that all 
will be much depreciated in value and wholly unavailable for 
some time to come, as a source of revenue. To the above may 
be added my profession once lucrative, but now yielding no 
return. I think it proper to make the above statement. In 
this emergency. I was forced to look around and determine 
what course to pursue to avert actual starvation. No more 
probable mode of temporary relief presented itself to my mind, 
than an application to you such as I have already made. I 
asked for a loan sufficient to supply a limited amount of food. 



AFTER THE WAR 243 

clothing, medicine and groceries — together with a few hundred 
dollars in money. I named one or two hundred dollars, but 
it should have been on further reflection, four or five hundred. 
A memorandum of what was immediately wanted was enclosed. 
The liquors should have been placed under the head of medi- 
cines, for it is for this purpose they are principally wanted. 
I lost a patient a few weeks ago, a lady of high position and 
one whom you once knew, for the want of stimulants. I be- 
lieve that a bottle of brandy would have saved her life. I did 
not of course expect you, occupied as you are, to attend per- 
sonally to the details of my letter — this could be accomplished 
by the instrumentality of others — and I beg that you will not 
consider me so unwise or inconsiderate, as to attempt thus to 
impose on you. I mentioned also in the letter alluded to, 
that Mr. Eraser had written to Dolner, Potter & Co., on pretty 
much the same business as I had to you, and advised in the 
event of your complying with my wishes, that you would 
consult with them as to the procuring a permit and safe con- 
veyance to this place, not yet declared a port of entry. The 
Government would hardly condemn us to a lingering death 
by starvation ; our only supply must be from abroad. Your 
known kindness and liberality, your ample means, your knowl- 
edge of myself, our former friendly intercourse and personal 
regard for each other (for allow me to say, and I do so with 
the utmost sincerity, that among the names associated with 
some of my most pleasant reminiscences of the past, is the 
name of Richard Lathers), all of these considerations seem 
to justify me in thus calling upon you. 

■' I could fill a sheet or more with details of the situation of 
affairs here and in the neighborhood, all of which would be 
interesting to you, acquainted as you are with everything and 
everybody here, but I suppose it would not be proper for me 
to do so. Suffice it to say that we have felt this war in all 
its horrors. What further suffering yet awaits us, the All-wise 
God alone knows. Perhaps (and there are grave reasons for 
the thought) the scenes of St. Domingo may be re-enacted here. 
As to the destruction of life, you may judge of the extent of 



244 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

this by one fact which I may be allowed to relate. The George- 
town Rifle Guards numbered at the time they left home for 
the seat of war in the west, one hundred twenty-five or six men. 
Of this company (company A, loth regiment) there are not 
ten survivors fit for duty ; the rest were killed in battle or died 
in the hospitals or have been maimed. This company was 
composed in large part of young men from this place. We had 
also a large representation in Virginia, most of whom have 
fallen. Death has also been busy among those who did not 
participate in the strife. Many of our former friends have 
found a quiet resting-place in the grave, since the War began. 
I will soon follow them. 

" Excuse my trespassing so long on your time. I shall await 
with considerable anxiety your reply to this. Does our former 
friend, Mr. Joseph Thurston, still survive? Should he still be 
among the living, when you see him, remember me very kindly 
to him. 

" I am my dear Sir, 

" Very respectfully and truly Yours, 



The writer of the above two letters was my family physician. 
He was not only distinguished in his profession, but was a 
social leader as well, and dispensed a lavish hospitality. Most 
of his inherited property was swept away by the ravages of 
war and the emancipation of his slaves. But he weathered 
the storm better than most of the Southern gentlemen because 
he had a large medical practice to fall back upon, which stood 
him in good stead in the long run. 

" Charleston, 7 June, 1865. 
" Col. Richard Lathers, New York. 

" Dear Sir: — I received your very kind message through my 
friend, J. S. Gibbs, Esq. I need not say I thank you for the 
invitation to my daughters, but we are compelled to decline it 
as ready money is entirely out of the question with us. They 
are and have been living, through the War, at our plantation. 
Our city residence was destroyed early in the War. I have 



AFTER THE WAR 245 

been a good deal robbed by Confederate and United States 
forces, still I have, I hope, enough left to live. At present our 
serious difficulty is in the fact of the total destruction by Gen. 
Sherman of all means of transportation. He destroyed all 
rail-roads and took all my horses, so that cotton, which is all 
that is left on which to raise money, is unavailable. I arn^ 
here trying to start our Bank again. Our assets consist almost- 
entirely of Rail-road Bonds and State Stocks, etc. Never hav- 
ing any confidence in Confederate I kept as clear as I could of 
it ; still we shall lose largely, for do what you would it resulted 
in Confederate money. — ' 

"How and where is our friend, Thurston? I heard from 
him but once during the War. He was then in Dublin, Ireland, 
and in bad health. I had anticipated his wishes and employed 
Mitchell & Whaley to defend his property. It was saved from 
confiscation and stands about as when he left, except some 
of the Parties are badly crippled by War. I enclose him and 
his family my kindest regards. I have some idea of starting 
a National Bank. What do you think of it as a system? I 
can see fair profits in it if your public debt will ever be paid. 
Will not repudiation find many advocates. North and South? 
I would like your views on this matter as I have lost enough 
without adding to my losses by injudicious investments. If 
I start it and you and Mr. Thurston are able, I would like 
to have you take some stock as money is very scarce with me, 
and I shall not be able to go as strong as I could wish into it 
without temporary aid from my friends in getting started. 
I don't know but I may come on in Aug. or Sept. for a 
few days, but this depends as yet on too much uncertainty 
for me to say I will see you personally. 

" Mr. Jas. S. Gibbs, who will be one of the Directors, if I 
imdertake it, has written Messrs. Duncan, Sherman & Co. about 
it. I have been making nothing for 4 years and want just 
for the novelty of the matter to try and make something. 

" Present me most kindly to Mrs. Lathers. 

" Very truly yours, 

" D. L. McKay." 



246 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

" Charleston, 8 July, 1865. 
" Col. Richard Lathers, New York. 

" My Dear Sir: — I thank you most sincerely for your kind- 
ness in allowing me to draw as I may need to the extent of 
$3000. I hope to be able to get along without being trouble- 
some to my friends. If I can get my Mississippi cotton to 
market (I own 100 Bales) I shall be independent. If I can't 
do this, I shall use your kind offer, but shall not do so till 
I see you unless some very unforeseen event occurs. 

" When you write Mr. Thurston tell him his property stands 
very much as when he left. I collected only his dividends and 
paid his taxes. I refused to receive any bonds or interest on 
bonds. I had a hard contest to keep his property from con- 
fiscation. Employed Mitchell & Whaley. Mitchell is since 
dead. Whaley I suppose you have seen, as he told me he 
would go to New York on his way home from Washington. 

" President Johnson will be popular at the South I think. 
The appointment of Collector here was very unfortunate. He 
is either a very much slandered man or it would be very diffi- 
cult to find anyone of less character in the city who makes 
any claim to respectability. I never saw or heard of him till 
he was feasted in your city. His speech on that occasion was 
a slander on Charleston. You know I always express my 
opinions with freedom and, being opposed to the whole Seces- 
sion business, I would be as apt to have known it as anyone 
in the city if any abridgment of the freedom of speech had 
occurred. 

" The destruction of property in this State by Gen. Sher- 
man would have disgraced the leader of the worst vandals of 
Ancient Rome. In Columbia alone, 1400 families had not 
only their houses burned, but all furniture and provisions 
wantonly destroyed. His track through the State will be easily 
traced for years to come and when History comes to do its 
duty, he will be branded with that infamy which the greatest 
rabble of modern times justly merits. 

" Yours very truly, 

' " D. 'l. McK.'W." 



AFTER THE WAR 247 

The writer of the above letters was one of my early bene- 
factors, and has been referred to a number of times in these 
" Reminiscences." 

" Charleston, 13th January, 1866. 

" My Dear Sir: — The war being over we of the South have 
gone to work to attempt to rebuild our ruined fortunes. If I 
know the people of our State the Union is restored in spite of 
the speeches of the Abolition leaders. Our people have ac- 
cepted, and honestly accepted the result of the war. It would 
be false to say that we would not have wished that the decision 
of arms had been otherwise, but we accept it as it is, feeling 
assured that both sections were perfectly honest. I for one 
am disposed to believe that the real question at issue was 
State Rights vs. Centralization, and the result of the war was 
apparently the destruction of State Rights, but as I learn 
from my reading of history that the middle ground is always 
the correct position and that all great political and civil contests 
eventually end in compromise, I am disposed to believe that 
the true result of the bitter contest through which we have 
passed may be a government more perfect than the one which 
we formerly had, a government embracing all that is good 
and leaving out all that is evil in the principles of both Northern 
and Southern statesmen, a government which eventually may 
embrace within its limits every part of the continent of North 
America. 

" I have opened my office in Charleston and send you my 
card, feeling assured that you will for auld lang syne do 
anything in your power to serve a native of your native district, 
old Georgetown. At any time that you may have leisure I 
would be pleased to hear from you. 

" Very truly and respectfully yours, 

" J. Barrett Cohen." 

[A leading member of the Charleston bar.] 



248 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

" Charleston, June 9, 1865. 
" Mr. Richard Lathers, New York. 

"Dear Sir: — While the sword was drawn, I wrote you and 
proved that even war had not obliterated the memory of the 
past. I feel grateful to you for the kindness you extended to 
my boy when a prisoner and thank you for it. I acknowledge 
the debt of $25 and, when I can, I will pay it with interest. 
In the meanwhile, we are utterly ruined and penniless and I 
must beg you to wait until we can in some wise recover. I 
rest upon the kindness shown to venture a letter to you now. 
I wish to ask that you will write me a full state of things with 
regard to us, for information is scarce. What is the design 
and temper of the Northern people — for that is the power 
behind the throne ? Is it the utter destruction of this people 
and country? Do they wish to push us out of the land or 
to drive us to desperation? Will the freedom of the world 
be thus advanced ? Will the prosperity of a nation be advanced 
by such a determination ? We will not speak of the past or 
its issues. God has permitted the cause to go against us. 
While it must be admitted we struggled hard, fought well, 
endured privations which never can be known, yet we are, 
as a people, willing to accept. Not as if we lived in the time 
of Dionysius of Syracuse, but in the nineteenth century, we 
would cheerfully throw ourselves into the new order of things 
and co-operate to bring order out of chaos. You know I have 
an extensive acquaintance and some little influence. I have 
traveled this State over, every part of it, in the last three 
months, and unless our total subjugation and ruin is the policy, 
if there is any purpose of recognizing us as free white men I 
think I have declared the temper of us all. All your old 
friends are utterly ruined. Those who invested in lands, the 
charity vi'hich does not exceed over $20,000 leaves them out ; 
those, in negroes, they are gone ; those in Confederate securi- 
ties, of course are worthless ; those who bought gold and put 
it away, almost without exception it was forced from them ; 
if the negroes did not betray it, parties were hung and beat 
and every indignity and outrage perpetrated and all taken. 



AFTER THE WAR 249 

My home in Charleston was literally gutted-^not a thing left 
in it. I wish you would come on here for auld lang syne 
sake, just to see the state of things. Your heart would bleed 
for us. Negroes garrison everywhere, and the swagger and 
insolence of temporary and unaccustomed power is borne. 
But, my friend, put yourself in the same conditions. The 
Southern negroes are far worse than those from the North. 
All appointments of employment for our young men are re- 
fused ; and it is not the past but the present and the future. 
And, my friend, if overpowered, we are still near eight millions 
of what were once free white men, if a negro's word, for the 
time, is as good or better than any. You have read history ; 
you know human nature. I dread under present aspects the 
hour when the heart can stand no more, and the pent-up feel- 
ings result in a hopeless but a fearful holocaust of blood. 
Cannot the North aflford to be magnanimous? Few govern- 
ments have had a harder struggle to maintain its sway, and 
none have shown as gigantic power. Will it add to the hap- 
piness or welfare of you all that we perish? In one point 
of view the North should be grateful to the South for the 
opportunity afforded by our fruitless revolution to show the 
resources and power of the country — and the two countries. 
The power and magnificence is almost fearful to contemplate. 
We are now subjected to all the petty tyranny of small men 
who come after success in battle and we are trying to be 
patient. We can bear these things for a while, if we can 
see hope beyond in the Government. You will excuse the 
frankness of this letter, but you know I love my people. I 
love the human race ; my life is dedicated to do good, and I 
wish to be able to cheer hearts which are full of woe and 
well-nigh broken. My Sunday-school room has been taken 
from me by Redpath and made a negro school of. My church 
I have not yet gotten, but e.xpect to-day to have permission 
to open it. 

" My oldest, bright-eyed, beautiful first-born was taken last 
October in his eleventh year by yellow fever. My utter poverty, 
all the indignities I have been subjected to, are nothing to this 



250 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

one heart sorrow ; it has bowed me to the earth. I trust it 
has brought me nearer to the Cross. My kind regards to 
your family, to Dr. Taylor if you ever see him, and believe me 
still the same. 

" Your friend, 

" A. TooMER Porter. 
" P. S. — The planters in Cooper River have all made con- 
tracts with the negroes ; so far the result is that they work just 
when they please and seed will not be made in the wide dis- 
trict." 

" Charleston, June i8th, 1865. 
" CoL. Richard Lathers, New York. 

"Dear Sir: — I hope you received my last. Living here is 
almost unbearable. We are vmder the rule of a miserable set 
of petty tyrants whose reign disgraces the age and any nation. 
Mr. Trenholm was brought to Charleston from Columbia under 
arrest, sent to the common jail under a negro guard like a 
felon, given prison fare and put on a miserable bundle of straw 
brought from a hospital, all intercourse and even pen and ink 
denied him. We at length succeeded in getting to him and 
have made him more comfortable and he was taken on Saturday 
to Fort Pulaski. It is a huge mistake. The blood of the 
martyrs is the seed of the church. No man from his influence 
and ability could do more than he to bring order out of chaos — 
that is, if that is the wish of the government. I know he is 
ready to take the oath of allegiance, to lend all his aid to 
carry out the policy of these disjointed times. This sudden 
emancipation is the ruin of the country, and the negroes they 
„are dying at a fearful rate. For heaven's sake do all you can 
for Mr. Trenholm ! The negro troops down here prevent all 
order or system with the negroes, besides the painful humilia- 
tion to us. This I presume is intended. But is it magnani- 
mous? Is it generous? Is it sound policy? If the United 
States must be disgraced by having them in its army why are 
they not sent to the frontiers? Depend upon it no good will 
result in keeping them here much longer. Can nothing be 



AFTER THE WAR 251 

done to get them away? Our people are willing to conform 
to the government, but the present policy only makes hatred 
rankle, if silent, in the heart. I write to you freely. . . . 
" I am very truly yours, 

" A. TooMER Porter." 

These last two letters came from one of the most energetic 
of the clergymen of the South, who has been since the War 
the most earnest and effective reconstructive force in the State 
of South Carolina. Dr. Porter was a native of my own town 
of Georgetown, and deserves to rank with Dr. Thomas House 
Taylor, another native of that place, for usefulness in his 
church. Shortly after the war he paid me a visit at my New 
Rochelle residence and desired an opportunity to preach in 
Trinity Church where I was a warden. Notice was given 
that a clergyman from South Carolina would preach and solicit 
contributions to a fund to restore the library of the Diocese 
of that State, which had been destroyed during the war. 

Dr. Porter was very tall and thin, and even a little cadav- 
erous from the hardships of the campaigns in which he had 
served as the Chaplain of a Confederate regiment, and his 
figure presented a most striking aspect when he rose in his 
pulpit. He looked all around the church with great delibera- 
tion, as if to make the acquaintance of every one of the 
congregation, while he announced his text, " I am Joseph, your 
brother " ; after which he paused long enough for his audience 
to recognize properly their kinsman from the South, who 
had come back to the Union household. He began his sermon 
by giving a graphic account of the Biblical story of Joseph, and 
applied it to the returning South. He said that the South, 
being a favorite in the Union — as Joseph was with his father 
— no doubt took on airs which quite naturally proved offen- 
sive. Yet God preserved Joseph with all his sins ; and, as 
Joseph lived to comfort his father in his old age, and to 
co-operate with his brethren for the family interest, so the 
South would come, he believed, to take its proper place in the 
great family of the Union. He laid before the congregation 



252 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

the loss of the Diocesan Library, and told how, many years 
before the War, the South Carolina Diocese had contributed 
largely for just such a brotherly purpose to a Northern diocese. 

The result of this appeal was the largest collection I had 
ever known to be taken up for any purpose in Trinity parish. 

Dr. Porter's now celebrated educational institution in 
Charleston was due primarily to the generosity of a North- 
erner, John C. Hoadley of Massachusetts. 

Mr. Hoadley was a friend and associate of Charles Sumner 
in the political struggles preceding the war, and, like Charles 
.Sumner, became, after the war, a zealous advocate of the 
rights of the South in opposition to carpet-bag domination 
and in opposition to the desecration of the national flag by 
recording in its folds the defeats of Americans. He was an 
enthusiastic mechanical engineer, and was one of the promoters 
and an original trustee of the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 
nology. After serving as Superintendent of the celebrated 
Lawrence Machine Shop and other enterprises for many years 
— during which he was the sole support of his mother and 
six sisters — he invented an economical engine adapted to plan- 
tation use. for which he found a large and profitable market 
at the South. The breaking out of the Civil War deprived 
him not only of this source of income, but utterly destroyed 
the possibility of collecting the proceeds of the sales already 
eiifected there. In this exigency he wrote to me asking me 
to aid him by finding purchasers among my returning South- 
ern friends for his checks on certain banks against collections 
they had made on his account. I was unable to find pur- 
chasers for his Southern exchange, because persons returning 
to the South had barely money enough to pay the expenses of 
their return. After the War, however, I succeeded, while on 
a visit to Charleston, in collecting for Mr. Hoadley from the 
banks a modest sum — three or four thousand dollars, I think. 
When I apprised Mr. Hoadley of this success, he immediately 
wrote me : " A thousand thanks for your good offices. ' One 
good turn deserves another.' I presume that your churches 
have lost all their bells. Do me the favor of selecting the most 



AFTER THE WAR 253 

needy and present to it in your own name this money, which 
I think will purchase a good bell — to give Charleston again 
the cheering sound of a call to worship, so long hushed by 
the devastations of war." 

I immediately called on my friend. Dr. Porter, and offered 
to purchase a bell for his church. He earnestly requested 
me to give him the money towards establishing an academy 
for young men without means whom he desired to educate 
for future usefulness. I at once agreed to make the sug- 
gestion to Mr. Hoadley, provided that the Doctor would get 
up a subscription trust fund of not less than $10,000, to which 
I would subscribe myself, and provided that the fund should 
be called the Hoadley Education Fund in honor of this won- 
derfully unselfish offer to aid the people of Charleston by a 
Yankee Abolitionist who had not a single acquaintance there — 
all of which was agreed to by Mr. Hoadley. Several possible 
subscribers, however, objected to having a Yankee name at- 
tached to the enterprise. Of course, this ridiculous illiberality 
greatly shocked me, and I promptly declined to donate Mr. 
Hoadley's money or my own on any other terms than those 
I had named. Thereupon, Dr. Porter, who was an able ne- 
gotiator, wrote directly to Mr. Hoadley asking him to waive 
my proposition in obedience to the prejudices of the times, and 
the latter — generous and modest gentleman that he was ! — 
wrote me at once asking me to relent in consideration of 
the poverty of the Southern people, and the importance of 
providing for their education even against their prejudices. 

Of course, nothing was left for me to do but to turn over the 
money. 

Mr. Hoadley never recovered from the misfortunes of the 
war, and his liberality to every religious and educational charity 
was so great that it came very near impoverishing him in the 
end. 

The year 1867 developed a peculiar phase of military' rule 
in the State of Alabama, not unlike that which attended the 
Cromwell revolution in England ; namely, an attempt to sub- 
ject the Church to political control b}' regulating its prayers. 



254 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

The military commander of the Alabama district issued an 
order requiring the clergy of the Episcopal Church to use the 
Prayer for Rulers, which reads, '' We most heartily beseech 
Thee with Thy favor to behold and bless Thy servant the 
President of the United States and all others in authority, grant 
them in health and prosperity long to live, and, finally, after 
this life to attain everlasting joy and felicity." Bishop Wilmer, 
not vvishino- to see the members of his Diocese guilty of so base 
and hypocritical an action as praying for the long life and 
happiness and the future glorification of the flagrant despotism 
by which they were oppressed, issued a Pastoral Letter to his 
clergy in which he declared the prayer for all those in authority 
was out of place and utterly incongruous, and that, while they 
should be ready to pray for rulers generally, the particular form 
of the Prayer Book invocation rendered it impossible for them 
to use it, under the circumstances in which they were placed, 
without the baldest hypocrisy. 

The Bishop, on being called to account for this letter by 
the military commander, told him frankly that he could not 
pray for the prosperity of a Government which deprived him 
of his rights as an American freeman, and could not invoke 
the blessings of long life in this world and felicity in the next 
upon the tyrannical and barbarous black rulers who had been 
imposed upon his State by a partisan and sectional Congress. 

The officer then said : " When do you think you will use 
the Prayer Book prayer for the President and all others in 
authority ? " 

The Bishop promptly answered : " When you all get away 
from here. This prayer was for a government of the people's 
choice and affection. . . . The fact is that the govern- 
ment as at present administered is one for which I desire the 
least length of life and the least prosperity that is consistent 
with the providential will of God. 

" Suppose," the Bishop continued, " our positions reversed. 
Suppose that we had conquered you, and that, amid all your 
destitution, sadness, and humiliation, an officer had commanded 
you to fall down upon your knees and ask God to grant long 



AFTER THE WAR 255 

life, health, and prosperity to our Government? Would you 
doit?" 

The officer quickly replied in language which, if rather pro- 
fane, was honest and instinct with the spirit of an American 
freeman, " I'd be damned to hell if I would! " 

The Bishop retorted : " I am not disposed to use your phrase- 
ology. But if I do this thing you order me to do — addressing 
the Almighty with my lips when my heart is not in my prayer — 
I run great danger of meeting the doom you have hypothetically 
invoked upon your own head." 

This tenninated the interview. 

In a few days an order was issued shutting up the churches, 
and suspending Bishop Wilmer from his functions. 

One of the Bishop's clergymen, inspired either by fear or 
an honest desire to compromise, procured a license to open his 
church by promising to use the prayer under discussion. He 
attempted to placate the Bishop by explaining to him that he 
used the prayer under the clearest and firmest protest he could 
make openly, and asked him for his official opinion of this 
course. The Bishop said : " My dear brother, I am quite un- 
able to inform you what God will think of a prayer made under 
protest, or how far the great Provider of good will be influenced 
by a petition which your open protest shows you did not wish 
granted." 

During this troubled period I was privileged to be able to 
secure the release of the Winyah Indigo Society (Georgetown) 
by intercession with Gen. Sickles — one of many considerate 
acts on the part of this chivalrous officer — and to help to re- 
establish public worship in various parts of the South by 
making or obtaining loans which made it possible to repair 
and reopen a number of church buildings. 

A great number of prominent Southerners visited New York 
after the close of the War. Among these were some old 
Unionists who had fallen victims to the craze of State Sov- 
ereignty, while disliking Secession, and who were not sorry to 
hail the " Lost Cause " as lost — my old and valued South 
Carolina friend, William Gilmore Simms, for instance, one of 



256 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

the most distinguished literary men of the South. I had the 
pleasure of entertaining Mr. Simms at a dinner at which the 
Mayor of New York, the president of the New York Chamber 
of Commerce, members of Congress, and prominent editors 
were present. In his speech at the table, he gave quotations 
in a playful manner from the abusive editorials in the Charles- 
ton, Mobile, and New Orleans journals, upon his host's course 
in co-operating so actively with the war element at the North, 
and said that the Northern papers, especially the Tribune, 
afforded the Secession element great satisfaction by copying 
the Southern opinions of his conduct and supplementing them 
by a plentiful supply of abuse of their own, full of accusations 
of disloyalty to the Union because of his imprudent political 
speeches, notably one before the Chamber of Commerce in 
opposition to an unwise and useless proposal to tax cotton, 
rice, and tobacco. 

" Taking note," said Mr. Simms, " of this honest but indis- 
creet political course of my valued friend, by which he lost 
the confidence of the radical element in both sections of the 
country, I was desirous of learning how he stood with the 
authorities in Washington, and how he managed to avoid 
a trip to Fort Lafayette, where so many outspoken Union men 
had been sent for their indiscretion. I found, on conversing 
with leading Republicans at the Capital, many of them officials, 
that our host was under the surveillance of the Government 
police in New York during the whole time ; but that while 
outspoken, even against the Government, in his public speeches, 
he always sustained the War, and while the Government re- 
ceived many complaints against his loyalty, they never could 
find anything tangible against him. But my visit to his library 
to-day opened my eyes to his means of security against arrest. 
On opening a handsomely bound volume containing the vol- 
uminous diplomatic correspondence of Secretary William H. 
Seward, of the State Department, with our representatives 
abroad and with foreign governments, up to and including 
1863, I found that it was a presentation copy, and on the title 
page was written, ' To Colonel Richard Lathers, from his 



AFTER THE WAR 257 

friend William H. Seward.' " This," said Mr. Simms, " was 
the milk in the cocoanut. On looking further among his 
pamphlets of the War, I found many official reports by Secre- 
tary of the Treasury Chase, and Secretary of War Stanton, 
inscribed in the same manner." 

A few days after this dinner Mr. Simms called at my office 
to express the pleasure he had experienced in meeting so many 
distinguished gentlemen (several of them ardent Republicans), 
and in being greeted so cordially by them. I then inquired of 
him, whether he had learned the name of the officer who had 
the custody of my lo3-alty. He answered at once, a detective 
named Sampson. I astonished him greatly when I informed 
him that Sampson was employed during the entire war by 
the Great Western Insurance Company, of which I was the 
president. 

While we are speaking of dinners, allow me to narrate, 
somewhat out of its proper chronological order, a very laugha- 
ble incident. Moses Grinnel, a well-known merchant who was 
an earnest friend and supporter, as a Republican, of General 
Grant, as he had been earlier, as a Whig, an earnest friend 
and supporter of Daniel Webster, gave a dinner to the General 
to which he invited some ten leading Republicans. Mr. Grin- 
nel, who was celebrated for his liberal dinners, ordered Del- 
monico to get up for him, regardless of expense, a banquet to 
be served at his own residence. The pilots of the port, with 
whom Mr. Grinnel (as the representative of the Chamber of 
Commerce on the pilotage commission) was a favorite, saw 
that he was supplied not only with the rarest kinds of fish, but 
with a large, fat turtle from Southern waters for the concoction 
of a soup which should be worthy of the occasion. 

On the very same day, my intimate friend, Mr. John Gardner, 
a generous and genial banker of the city, invited, as was his 
frequent custom, a few friends to dine with him informally ; 
but as Mrs. Gardner was out of town, he ordered at Del- 
monico's a plain dinner for six or eight persons, to be sent to 
his house at the hour appointed for the Grinnel dinner. 
Through some mistake, the plain dinner ordered by Mr. 



258 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

Gardner was sent to the house of Mr. Grinnel, and the 
sumptuous dinner ordered by Mr. Grinnel was sent to the 
house of Mr. Gardner. Mr. Gardner and his guests were 
greatly surprised by the variety and display of the meal — by 
the enormous supply of turtle soup, the magnificent specimens 
of fish, and above all, by the confections, which included an 
immense sugar coach and six horses mounted on ornamental 
wood representing a roadway and surmounted by a very good 
likeness of General Grant enjoying his favorite pastime of 
driving a mettlesome team. Mr. Gardner explained that, as 
he was a liberal patron of Delmonico, he presumed that the 
restaurateur had taken this way of complimenting him, and he 
only regretted that he had not been notified so that he could 
have invited a larger number of friends. 

On the other hand, at Mr. Grinnel's, according to Moses 
Taylor, one of the guests, the soup was served in a modest 
tureen, and was followed by a moderate-sized sea bass, the 
serving of both of which taxed the host's skill to the utmost, 
since there was barely enough to go around. This must have 
been exceedingly trying to a man who prided himself — and 
justly — on the magnificence of his dinners and on his genial 
manner of dispensing them, for it was not then the fashion to 
leave all the details of service to the butler. But this annoyance 
was as nothing to the disappointment and disgust he felt when, 
instead of the magnificent complimentary group which had 
been fabricated under his own supervision, and with which he 
calculated to electrify the company and win the gratitude of 
the General, a small ice cream in the form of a turtle was 
brought on. 

In 1866, when the oil-speculating fever was at its height, 
I was offered a directorship in the Humboldt Mining and 
Refining Company of Pennsylvania, of which Mr. Suchard, 
the senior partner of one of New York's largest and most con- 
servative banking houses, was the president, and such dis- 
tinguished men as Wm. M. Evarts, James B. Johnston, Mr. 
Travers, and Mr. Forbes of Boston were directors. Impressed 
and flattered by these names, I readily accepted, and attended 



AFTER THE WAR 259 

the organization meeting at the Continental Hotel in Phila- 
delphia, where we were entertained sumptuously by the specula- 
tive promoters of the enterprise. The story of the company's 
management is of no present interest. And yet I cannot resist 
the impulse to caution verdant young men against financial 
dinner parties. After the cloth was removed, our hosts in- 
formed us that a certain block of the company's stock was in 
the hands of adverse interests, and that it would be greatly 
to the advantage of the board to control this before the large 
earned dividend was declared. Mr. Evarts, with his usual cau- 
tion, " regretted " that he had not the spare means to increase 
his ownership of the stock, and I followed his lead. Others 
subscribed. The next day I was surprised to receive a note 
from the president enclosing $6,000 of the stock, with the com- 
plimentary remark that he did not like to have me lose so 
valuable an investment. It is the old story. I weakly yielded 
to my desire to be agreeable to my banking friend and not to 
be behind my co-directors, and sent a check for the stock. 
And the last I heard of it was a citation to meet the directors 
to sign a mortgage of the large property which shortly before 
had been pronounced ready to declare a generous dividend. 
Such is life in speculative times. 

Usually young men lose their money in bad company, but 
here was clearly a case in which most of the directors were 
made the victims of the stockholders in a worthless corporation. 

In the above instance I came to grief by being overcredu- 
lous, but I have missed several golden opportunities in my life- 
time by being overcautious. 

Thus, one evening, several years after my disenchanting ex- 
perience with the Humboldt Company, I was seated with Mr. 
Wilson G. Hunt in his parlor at the Clarendon Hotel, when 
Cyrus W. Field came in. I was about to retire, after greeting 
Mr. Field, when Mr. Hunt said, " Don't leave ! Our friend 
has no doubt a business proposition to suggest, for he is the 
great source of fertility in the way of original enterprises." 
Mr. Field at once opened up his proposition, for he was not 
given to long prefaces where business was concerned. He 



26o REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

explained that he had secured an option of a few months, which 
would enable him to get possession of the City Elevated Rail- 
road and its charter, on the most favorable terms. That in 
order to take advantage of this option he should go to London 
for the capital necessary to build and equip the road, and that 
he should issue stock at a low figure, and bonds at 75. " I will 
reserve for you two friends," he said, " as many bonds as you 
desire at seventy-five cents on the dollar, and will give you a 
hundred-dollar share of stock for every thousand-dollar bond 
you subscribe for." He then dilated on the best means of re- 
constructing both the road and the rollingstock, which were in 
so dilapidated a condition as very properly to be considered 
dangerous. 

Mr. Hunt and I, after mature consideration, declined the 
offer on the ground that a ten-cent fare for this novel mode of 
transit would render the project unprofitable, even at the low 
rate of the investment. And besides, we feared that the ele- 
vated road might be laid aside in a few years for some new 
invention. All this reasoning proved to be more conservative 
than sound, for time developed that the structure was not so 
flimsy as we supposed, and the reduction of the fare to five 
cents has demonstrated the great value of the property as an 
investment, and its transcendent utility to the public. The 
bonds which we could have had for seventy-five, afterwards 
reached far above one hundred, and the stock which these 
bonds carried with them went still higher than the bonds. Mr. 
Field, thanks to his faculty for presenting any project in a 
favorable light, and to the confidence of capitalists in his ca- 
pacity, had no difficulty in negotiating for all his capital in 
London. 



CHAPTER IX 

RECONCILATION 

On returning to Charleston in the spring of 1867, I received 
a cordial invitation to visit Georgetown, my former home, for 
consultation with my old friends as to the best method of 
coping with the new problems which the war had just forced 
upon them. I found my friends greatly impoverished, and 
seriously disturbed by the novel situation in which the white 
and black races found themselves under the emancipation. I 
was gratified to learn that a kindly and sympathetic feeling 
existed between the whites and the blacks, and that both de- 
sired to make the best of things as they found them, and to 
aid each other in building up their fallen fortunes. Indeed, 
this mutual kindness extended to a division of the limited 
supply of daily food and clothing on hand, and to partnership 
in labor for the necessities of life. 

As an old friend in whom they had confidence, I was in- 
vited by each race to speak on the issues of the day. I sug- 
gested a joint meeting in a public square, as I had nothing to 
say to one race which I would withhold from the other, and 
my proposition was accepted. 

The following article from the Georgetown Times of April 
24th refers to this meeting (the first held in the low country 
in which white and colored men met together to consider their 
common rights as equals under the law), and gives the sub- 
stance of my remarks : 

"MASS MEETING 

"speech of colonel lathers of new YORK 

" The speech of Col. Lathers of New York to a large and 
attentive audience, was one of the most able, temperate, truth- 

261 



262 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

ful, and conciliatory, that it has been the good fortune of our 
community to listen to for many years. It is indeed refresh- 
ing and glorious, to find a speaker who embraces the good of 
the whole country within the scope of his remarks, not unmind- 
ful of the dire effects of partial and oppressive legislation ; for, 
while clearly demonstrating the existence of oppression, he 
has beautifully portrayed the blessings of liberty as intended to 
be diffused by the original framers of the Government. But 
his remarks on the existing relations of the two races, gave 
the address that practical bearing so important to our district. 
It has been very evident to our people that desperate efforts 
are being made by emissaries who, instigated by no other de- 
sire than the gratification of selfish ends, strive to sow the 
seeds of discord between the two races, ignoring the bless- 
ings of education, with which the experience of ages has en- 
dowed a superior race. On the mutual obligations and future 
welfare of races living on the same planet and subjected to 
the same natural laws. Col. Lathers dwelt fully and freely. 
During the course of his remarks, questions were submitted 
by intelligent colored citizens, which he kindly and conclu- 
sively answered to their satisfaction. He was occasionally 
interrupted by demonstrations of approbation. Below, we give 
a synopsis of his speech : 

"'Mr. President: — It gives me peculiar pleasure to address 
my old friends of Georgetown district, where the pleasant years 
of my childhood and the active years of my early manhood 
were passed. I see, among you, the faces of many, colored as 
well as white, with whom I played marbles, sailed boats, ran 
foot-races, and contended in other boyish sports, many years 
ago, on a basis of equality fostered by the past institutions 
of this State, which conduced to a kindly feeling between the 
two races ; a feeling which I hope the new political relations 
will not be permitted to impair. I am now a citizen of another 
section of our glorious Union. My family and my estate have 
long been removed from the scenes of your political activities ; 
and yet I have too much interest in the fortunes of my old 
associates in Georgetown, to refuse to respond to the request 



RECONCILIATION 263 

of the leading men of both races to give my views frankly 
on the grave issues of the hour. 

" ' It is due to myself to say that I have no sympathy with 
The Military Bill, under which the States of the South are 
unconstitutionally deprived of their rights. Whatever may 
have been the faults of the unwise men, who organized the 
Secession movement, and who brought disaster and poverty 
on their section through a gallant but most destructive war, 
the States, certainly, are incapable of committing treason ; and 
as they are without power to dissolve the sacred bonds which 
bind them to our Union, so too, neither Congress, nor any 
other body has the right to treat them as conquered prov- 
inces. 

" ' The Constitution assigns the duty of enforcing law and 
punishing the infraction of law, to the Executive department 
of the government which has no power to deal with States, 
but which is armed with full power to protect national in- 
terests, including the Union itself, against the violence and 
disloyalty of any or all of the individuals of the States. In 
other words the States of this Union are the great pillars of 
our nationality. The removal of any of them destroys the 
edifice, and the Constitution wisely makes no provision by which 
the perfect equality of each and every State in the Union can 
be modified or withdrawn. But, while I do not sympathize 
with this bill, Mr. President, I am desirous that the South 
should organize under it for the practical advantage of a speedy 
restoration of Southern rights. The bill is, fortunately, only 
temporary in its application, and will cease to be opera- 
tive when the States shall have been reconstructed. I am 
also constrained to admit that many of the active supporters 
of the bill at the North really regard it as a necessity, and 
as constitutional ; and, I believe, that they will be rejoiced 
to see the Southern States restored again to a perfect equality 
of rights. In other words, they regard the bill as a kind of 
scaffolding for restoring the shattered edifice of our Union. 
The consideration of past issues and abstract doctrines is now 
unprofitable. You must confront with courage the great facts 



264 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

of emancipation and suffrage. And I would here remark 
to my friends of my own color, that the work before them de- 
mands all their energy. No man has any right to neglect or 
refuse to perform his whole duty to his State, his district and 
his family, while so radical a tranformation is going on. 
Every good citizen is bound to exert himself to the utmost for 
the protection of the community against the possible evils of 
a change which will be forced to a conclusion, whether he 
co-operates or not. And I would say to my colored friends, 
that they, too, have a great responsibility resting upon them. It 
is their duty to assist in restoring their State to peace and 
prosperity, and to elevate their race to an industrial and intel- 
lectual equality with the great body of freemen who have 
hitherto directed the destinies of our country. 

" ' I am sanguine that you will both meet the exigency with 
intelligence and patriotism, because, I am fully satisfied in 
my own mind, after a careful investigation of the sentiments 
now existing between white men and colored men, that the most 
perfect accord prevails. I find everywhere, and particularly 
in Georgetown, where I think I have the confidence (at least, 
to some extent) of both parties, that the white men are ready 
to grant to the fullest extent, the political rights of the colored 
men. and that the colored men have a respect for and confi- 
dence in their white friends which have been engendered by 
many years of mutual kindness. 

" ' Indeed, I am satisfied that there will be the fullest co- 
operation for the interests of both races at the coming elec- 
tions provided no interference shall be permitted by the dema- 
gogues who are endeavoring to sow distrust in the minds of 
the less intelligent of the colored men of the district. It be- 
hooves you, then, my intelligent colored friends, to see that 
while vou guard in the fullest manner the rights of your race 
against the least incursion from any quarter, that you also 
guard them against the machinations of the emissaries from 
abroad, who would produce discord between you and your 
old friends of the white race, among whom your lot has been 
cast, and who in common with vou, must rise or fall with the 



RECONCILIATION 265 

success or failure of your common country. South Carolina 
belongs to you jointly, and will be the joint heritage of your 
children. See to it, therefore, that by harmony you conserve 
your joint interests. 

" ' Now if, in my remarks, I am not sufficiently clear on every 
point and you desire fuller information, I shall be glad if you 
will propound any question to me ; and I will reply to the best 
of my ability. And first I would remark that your liberty 
and political equality are as secure as my own. The same 
great charter which guarantees the rights of the white man, also 
protects yours ; nor can any restrict your rights more easily 
than those of the white man. Even if the delegates to your 
Convention should prove recreant to their duty, and should at- 
tempt to defraud you of perfect equality. Congress, having 
retained the supervision of this matter, would not confirm any 
such proceeding; so that you need give no heed to charges of 
that kind against your white fellow citizens. The great ques- 
tion for you is how to establish your liberty and equality on 
a firm basis, and how to make these great boons valuable to 
you and your posterity. Liberty is a great blessing or a great 
curse, according as it is used. If you, who are intelligent, 
succeed in directing your race to a moral and intelligent dis- 
charge of the high duties of American freemen, then, indeed, 
will your race be blessed, and the country will be elevated by 
the change which has been accomplished. But if you are 
unable to do this, and ignorance, pauperism and crime pre- 
vail, sad, indeed, will be your fate. 

" ' You must regard with caution all white men who pro- 
pose hostility to their own race, under any pretext whatso- 
ever. You cannot safely trust any man who is false to his own 
race, whether that race be white or black. Your own native 
good sense will always enable you to judge of any real griev- 
ance of your race or any act of hostility toward it. You should 
immediately demand a remedy in a kind, firm and candid man- 
ner, and, as you have political rights, you ought to refuse to 
vote for any candidate unless you are perfectly satisfied of his 
ability to perform the duties of his office, to the advantage of 



266 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

the State, and of his wilHngness to protect your civil rights in 
every particular. It is true, that under our present laws, all 
men are entitled to vote, but it is not proper that all men should 
be entitled to hold office. Unless men are qualified for office- 
holding by education, experience and integrity, it is an out- 
rage to elevate them to places of responsibility, since their 
ignorance, incapacity and dishonesty may inflict countless evils 
on the community. After the adoption of your contemplated 
constitution (which I hope will be made by your most valued 
old citizens, whose knowledge of your organic law will be ab- 
solutely necessary) after your adoption, I say, of this instru- 
ment, and your admission to your rights as a State, you will 
be called on to discuss practical questions for your general v^el- 
fare ; honest differences of opinion will vmdoubtedly divide you 
into two or more parties, but I hope no disputes will ever arise 
which shall separate you from the white race. 

" ' Fortunately no difference of opinion exists as yet. Both 
white and colored men desire to get back into the Union as 
speedily as possible, and neither of the great political parties 
presents practical issues at this time. Neither of these parties 
can claim emancipation as a measure, since both parties at the 
North commenced the War to put down Secession and not to 
free slaves. Indeed, Congress by a nearly unanimous vote, an- 
nounced a policy antagonistic to emancipation at the beginning 
of the War, and even Mr. Lincoln's original proclamation of 
emancipation and conditional on the Secession States refusing 
to lay down their arms. Political organizations of a secret 
nature have been formed, it seems, which are designed, I 
fear, to create party antagonisms destructive of the cordial 
understanding now existing between the races. Many good 
men, no doubt, have already connected themselves with these 
dangerous organizations, lured by promises of sympathy from 
distant Northern States. But let me advise you, my friends, 
to find out whether your colored brethren in those Northern 
States enjoy the advantages which are so lavishly promised to 
you, and to ponder whether it is wise for you to abandon the 
men by whom your race has been cherished from barbarism up 



RECONCILIATION 267 

to a degree of civilization which now fits you to become Amer- 
ican freemen. The kindly sympathy existing between your 
race and white Southern men is not, and cannot be, compre- 
hended by Northern disorganizers. 

" ' But this attempt to produce discord apart, you must con- 
sider that you are now emancipated, and that your right to 
discuss all poHtical questions is beyond debate. Why should 
you lower the dignity of your position by skulking into holes 
and corners, and binding yourselves to secrecy by oaths, after 
the manner of slaves and assassins? You are free citizens of 
this glorious Union ; the Union flag protects your meeting here 
to-day, and will protect your deliberations here in broad day- 
light to-morrow ; and neither you nor your white fellow-citizens 
have any right to plan secret political movements which can- 
not be freely discussed in open day before all the citizens 
interested. 

" ' Such organizations are potent to overthrow the liberties of 
a people, and should be scorned as the refuge of political trick- 
sters, whose designs will not bear investigation. Your own 
race in St. Domingo, after establishing their liberty on that 
beautiful island, were seduced by Jacobin emissaries from 
France to distrust their white fellow-citizens and to wage a 
war of extermination against them. After that, similar dis- 
cord arose between the mulattoes and the black men, and the 
result is that that productive country and its colored inhabi- 
tants are reduced to a degree of helpless poverty and anarchy 
which it chills the blood to contemplate. 

" ' Any discord between the landowners and the working 
population of a country, or any interference by government 
with the vested rights of landowners, has always and every- 
where produced poverty among the working people. 

" ' England under Cromwell confiscated the lands of the Irish 
gentry and gave them to English adventurers, with the design 
of enforcing loyalty. The result was the abject poverty of the 
Irish peasantry which has persisted to this day. The French 
Revolutionists confiscated and divided the lands of a large part 
of France ; but this disregard of vested rights so interfered with 



268 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

the interests of all parties that almost the first measure, after 
the return to power of Louis the Eighteenth, was the restitu- 
tion of the land, or payment of the full value to the despoiled 
owner. There is, therefore, no danger in this enlightened day, 
of confiscation or a forced sale of land. There is no more 
power in the Government to compel men to sell lands than 
there is to compel men to purchase lands. 

" ' It is a laudable ambition in you to desire to become land- 
owners, and you have only to rely on the laws of trade and 
your own provident industry to accomplish your purpose. If 
the holders of large tracts of land cultivate them profitably, the 
demand for labor will increase, and high wages will prevail 
which will enable you to accumulate capital quickly by work- 
ing for others ; while if the landholder can cultivate only a 
portion of his land with profit, he will desire to sell the rest, 
and you can purchase, provided you have been provident. 

" ' But be assured that the great essential is to labor for the 
means of purchasing land, rather than to indulge in unprofit- 
able discussion as to the confiscation or forced sale of land, 
since these things will never be permitted in this country. 

No laboring population on earth has so completely the 
sympathy, respect, and affection of their employers as you 
have; and you deserve them fully. You have been faithful to 
your late masters. You took no unfair or unkind advantage 
of them during your servitude, not even in the late war. On 
the contrary, you waited patiently until the law elevated you 
to the dignity and responsibility of freemen. I have confidence 
that you will continue to exercise the utmost forbearance 
towards your old masters ; and they, on their side, are now 
called on to extend to your frailties like consideration. 

The laws of trade will gradually correct many of the ob- 
vious present evils which are complained of by both parties. 
If the employer does not pay the colored man the wages he 
owes him, or maltreats him, the latter can enforce his contract 
by law and decline to work for him any more. If the colored 
man does not work faithfully, then the employer will discharge 
him. The poverty of the planters, the bad crops, and the inad- 



RECONCILIATION 269 

equate labor of the colored man last year produced the evils 
which are now upon you. 

" ' A better prospect exists this season, but the want of capital 
is sadly felt in every form of industry. This necessity can only 
be procured by establishing in the public mind complete confi- 
dence that the new relations between the white man and the 
colored will be as kindly as their former relations were, and 
that the freed men shall everywhere exhibit the same industry 
they exhibited when the energy of the South produced the chief 
exports of the country. Food cannot always be furnished by 
Government charity, and I charge you intelligent colored men 
not only to protect the political rights of the ignorant portion 
of your race, but to see to it that they do not fall into the hands 
of disorganizing demagogues, by whom their minds will be 
poisoned against their employers and their habits become those 
which lead to pauperism. Yours is the grave duty of elevating 
this portion of your race (by training them to be honest, indus- 
trious, and moral) to the dignity of useful American citizen- 
ship ; and I trust you will seek in this great work for the assist- 
ance of those members of the white race who have never failed 
you in trouble when you needed friends. I may never have the 
pleasure of meeting you again, but I shall always look with 
affectionate interest to my old home, and shall hope for the 
success of my old friends of both races, and for that happiness 
which only industry and an honest discharge of mutual duties 
can produce.' " 

On board the steamer which took me from Charleston to 
Georgetown, three of the original carpet-baggers had intro- 
duced themselves to me, and had told me frankly they were 
going to Georgetown for a contrar^' purpose, and that they 
intended to reply to any speech adverse to their plan of organ- 
izing the colored men into secret lodges in opposition to their 
old masters. To circumvent this threat, I gave notice early in 
my talk that I would be pleased to have any of my audience 
express adverse criticism, so that I could reply, as I had come 
before them not to dogmatize but to reason. The carpet-bag- 



270 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

gers, finding this joint meeting of white and colored citizens 
in perfect accord with the speaker, contented themselves with 
requesting Mr. Raney, a very intelligent colored man, to ask 
a few questions, which he did. My answer to one of Mr. 
Raney 's questions was received with applause. 

Mr. Raney said : " The speaker has invited any of the audi- 
ence to interrogate him regarding any of his remarks. I de- 
sire, with all respect, to ask him how we colored people can 
protect our rights if we are to abstain from party politics till 
we are educated ? " I replied without hesitation : " I think I 
have suggested a mode already ; but perhaps the wise counsel 
of the gentleman's father may strengthen my position. Many 
years ago, while his father was cutting my hair, his little son 
ran into the shop with blood streaming from his head, crying 
and complaining that a white boy had struck him with a brick- 
bat. After washing the wound and not finding it serious, the 
father gave the boy this sage advice, which I now commend to 
my audience : ' Don't play, my son, with them poor buckra.' " 

The colored leaders waited on me the next day and said that 
if their old masters would act on my advice and recognize them 
in public matters, these " Northern men," as they called them, 
might go back and take care of the New England freemen, for 
whom emanicpation had done little in one hundred years. 

On my return to Charleston, the merchants and planters 
congratulated me on the cordial reception given to my address. 
One of the most uncompromising of the planters thanked me 
warmly for the conservative advice I had given the freedmen, 
and said : " I had so much confidence in you, although you 
are so earnest a Union man, that I gave a holiday to all of the 
negroes on my plantation, in order that they might go to the 
meeting, but I could not quite reconcile myself to attend a 
mixed gathering of the kind." A number of the leading citi- 
zens of Charleston then asked me what I had to suggest in 
Charleston, to which I replied : " Re-district Charleston for 
public meetings of the white and colored people. In each dis- 
trict appoint three white and two colored men of conservative 
character and fairly popular with both races. Let the ad- 



RECONCILIATION 271 

dresses be somewhat after the nature of the address which was 
made before the two races in Georgetown, and which was 
favorably received, not because of any wisdom or eloquence it 
possessed, but because it proposed a reasonable remedy for the 
present disturbed conditions. The colored people have not, as 
a class, lost their respect and affection for the whites, the exist- 
ence of which — whatever the Abolitionists may think — was 
demonstrated by their conduct during the war, when they had 
full power to do evil and yet remained loyal. The colored men 
everywhere despise the poor buckra, and these carpet-baggers 
have nothing to offer with regard to which you cannot far 
outbid them if you will. The colored men will be proud if 
you will permit them to join you in the work of citizenship, 
and you will have at once the intelligent conservatives of the 
race with you." All this my questioners admitted might be 
good policy, but the people of Charleston would not so degrade 
themselves, they said, as to associate with negroes politically 
on a basis of equality. I said : " Very well, gentlemen, if you 
neglect this favorable opportunity to govern them, you will be 
governed by them, for they are in the majority. You will not 
co-operate with the colored men while you can yet rule ; ere 
long you will be oppressed by these same colored men under 
the direction of the carpet-baggers whom you despise while 
they are organizing underground lodges for the purpose of 
robbing you. The honorary offices of your City Government 
will be filled by negroes, and the lucrative offices by the carpet- 
baggers." This they regarded as quite preposterous ; and yet 
we all have lived to see the negroes dominant not only in the 
City Government, but in the State Senate and Assembly, and 
the carpet-baggers installed in most of the positions of profit, 
State as well as municipal. 

I have elsewhere enlarged upon this evil, which I have always 
believed could have been averted had the intelligent white men 
appealed to the sympathies and pride of the colored men, to 
shut out the Northern adventurers. And, indeed, in our own 
State and City of New York a similar active co-operation of 
the conservative and intelligent classes with " the plain people," 



272 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

as Mr. Lincoln loved to call them, would to-day drive out of 
power a class of machine politicians quite as corrupt as those 
who defrauded and impoverished the South. 

The carpet-bag rule was primarily responsible for the ap- 
pearance of the Ku-Klux. The carpet-baggers put in power 
not the intelligent and conservative colored man, but the ignor- 
ant and brutal negro, to whom Americans of less spirit and 
pride of race than the Southerners would not tamely submit. 
It must be remembered that this insult was seconded by the 
agents of the Freedmen's Bureau, all from the North, and all 
more or less eager for spoils, although many of them were 
school teachers and ministers of the Gospel. The immediate 
occasion of Ku-Kluxism was the unwillingness or inability of 
the local magistrates, known as trial justices, to protect prop- 
erty. These trial justices were not only of the most ignorant 
and corrupt class, but were located at great distances apart. 
The freedmen, owing to the promise of the carpet-baggers 
that they should each be supplied by the Government with 
" forty acres of land and a mule," subsisted while waiting for 
this good fortune by stealing cattle, hogs, and portions of crops. 
They were able to commit these depredations even in broad 
daylight with impunity, because of the difficulty of procuring 
police aid and because the justices were rarely to be found 
when wanted, and, if found, favored the thieves. To protect 
their property the white planters organized themselves into 
cavalry bodies to drive the thieves out of the community. 
Furthermore, after the war crimes became prevalent in the 
South which had hitherto been unknown there. Negroes fre- 
quently assaulted white women, and committed other acts of 
violence for which they were rarely punished by the courts. 
Of course, when the courts fail to redress wrongs and the 
indignant people begin to take the law into their own hands, 
excesses on the part of these self-constituted judges are inev- 
itable. But there was one redeeming feature in this Southern 
lynch law. There is not a case on record of hostility to the 
Union, or any evidence of robbery or desire for personal profit 
in the Ku-Klux outrages ; they were simply crimes of resent- 
ment against other crimes. 



RECONCILIATION 273 

During the memorable visit of President Johnson and his 
Cabinet to New York (en route for the West) some forty of 
us who approved his concihatory attitude towards the South, 
gave him a grand banquet at Delmonico's. His speech on this 
occasion gave ample proof of his conservative views of public 
policy, and was most favorably received ; and had it not been 
for his unfortunate exhibition of ill-temper and want of dignity 
in replying to some blackguard who chaffed him while he 
was addressing a street assemblage from the balcony of the 
banquet hall, his visit would have been of the highest value to 
his administration and the the public welfare. 

During this banquet Mr. Wilson G. Hunt said to me : " Let 
us pay our respects to Mr. Seward while he appears to be dis- 
engaged." After the usual compliments had been passed, Mr. 
Seward said : " Mr. Hunt, is the Atlantic cable well patron- 
ized at its enormous rates? If so, we shall all be runnmg after 
your stock." Mr. Hunt replied : " No, we appear to have lost 
the patronage of your department." " Yes," said Mr. Seward, 
" the Government is not rich enough to pay such rates for com- 
municating with the diplomatic corps across the Atlantic. We 
must continue the old postal mode of communication, which is 
cheaper if less rapid." This led to a discussion between them, 
and at last to a mutual understanding as to the future. The 
terms of this understanding have now escaped my memory. 
Several months later, when the telegraph company presented 
its bill for services, Mr. Seward denied having assented to the 
rates charged, and, indeed, was rather disposed to intimate that 
Mr. Hunt was so desirous of having the patronage of the De- 
partment as to have offered to put it on the free list. Being 
called upon to testify (before a commission) I fully corrobo- 
rated Mr. Hunt's statements, as at that time I recalled the 
details of the conversation with great exactness. On reading 
this testimony, Mr. Seward rather astonished his counsel by 
remarking that he was now quite satisfied that Mr. Hunt was 
correct, since my testimony had revived his memory on the 
subject. 

This incident, which illustrates the integrity of Mr. Seward 
and his willingness to acknowledge an error, is but one of many 



274 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

proofs which might be cited of the honest and generous im- 
pulses of that great man, whom politics and partisanship were 
never able to corrupt. 

By reason of the conservative tendencies displayed by Presi- 
dent Johnson in the course of his Northern visit, Hon. 
John Van Buren and I were appointed by Tammany to visit 
him, on his return to Washington, for the purpose of laying 
before him the importance of bringing the Custom House ofiS- 
cials into fuller harmony with his administration, and thus 
insuring to it the support of New York Democrats as well as 
that of conservative Republicans. 

The President listened to Mr. Van Buren's arguments with 
marked attention. But when he perceived that we desired 
Democratic appointments, he told us candidly that while he 
was meditating the removal of hostile Republicans he was 
not prepared to appoint Democrats. Nevertheless, such was 
his desire, he said, to have the support of the conservative men 
of both parties that he intended to select conservative men, and 
he then handed us a list of the Republican names he was con- 
sidering, and asked for our opinion of them. Mr. Van Buren, 
after scanning the list carefully, handed it back, saying: " Mr. 
President, with all due respect, these candidates are as mangy 
a set of official dogs as those now in power, and will, in my 
judgment, shipwreck your administration in our State. They 
have neither influence nor integrity. Will you permit us, Mr. 
President, as friends of your administration who will accept 
no office, to say to you that your enemies are of your own 
party, and that we fear that they will sooner or later display 
open hostility?" President Johnson listened to our remarks 
deferentially, and then said : " Very well, gentlemen ; I will 
not say that I will not make these appointments so objection- 
able to you, but I will say this, that I have noticed that such 
political promises ofttimes lead to political immorality." The 
appointments were never made. 

Here was an example of official integrity worthy of the best 
days of the Republic. Yet such was the partisan temper and 
loose morality of the radical party in Congress, at that period, 



RECONCILIATION 275 

that measures were taken to remove, by impeachment, a co- 
ordinate branch of the Government for purely party purposes, 
because that branch of the Government refused to be dictated 
to by Congress in the matter of Cabinet appointments and ap- 
pointments to offices generally. In other words, to sustain its 
own violation of the Constitution in passing an act curtailing 
the vested powers of the President, it was proposed that one 
branch of the Legislative Department should indict and the 
other branch convict the President of the crime of which they 
were guilty themselves ; as if two burglars should conspire to 
constitute themselves, one a tribunal to prosecute and the other 
to adjudicate a charge against a householder because he barred 
the door of his house to protect his property against their un- 
lawful purposes. 

May 6, 1868. I became connected with the New York Guar- 
anty and Indemnity Company, a unique financial enterprise — 
afterwards transformed into a trust company pure and simple 
— which was originated by Joel Wolf. 

Mr. Wolf was considered one of the best-dressed men of 
New York. He chanced one day to notice a pair of boots I 
was wearing and, as he took a great fancy to them, I intro- 
duced him to Pacalan, their maker. When Pacalan had pro- 
vided him with a pair which fitted him like a glove, he took 
out his pocketbook and handed him a ten-dollar bill. Pacalan 
told him the price was thirty dollars. Mr. Wolf was very 
indignant. " Take them right off," he cried. " I can't afford 
to be so extravagant as to wear thirty-dollar boots ! " Pacalan, 
who knew Mr. Wolf to be rich and childless, said to him : " Mr. 
Wolf, I will remove them, since you cannot afford to pay for 
them, but your heirs will not be so economical." " Stop," said 
Mr. Wolf, " I think I'll wear the costly boots myself, just to 
annoy my heirs by my extravagance." 

In the summer of 1868 I had the pleasure of entertaining 
Gen. Joseph E. Johnston at Morley's Hotel, London. He re- 
lated on that occasion, much to my delight and that of my 
guests, his interesting and varied experiences during and after 
his command of his army corps. He told of an interview be- 



276 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

tween Sherman and Lincoln which illustrates splendidly Presi- 
dent Lincoln's manner of conveying his personal desire without 
improperly committing himself oiificially. Gen. Johnston said 
that he had the anecdote direct from Gen. Sherman himself, 
and he related it in Sherman's own language, which I repro- 
duce here as nearly as is possible. " On being appointed by 
the Secretary of War, Mr. Stanton, to pursue and capture the 
Confederate President, and having a great desire that the war 
should be terminated as it had been prosecuted, not only with 
success, but without leaving any questions which could pos- 
sibly open up a controversy against the powers of the Admin- 
istration, I called on the President, and, after informing him 
of the orders from the Secretary of War, said : ' Mr. President, 
as your friend, I take the liberty to question the policy of cap- 
turing Jefferson Davis. I regard it in all respects as safe and 
quite as dignified on the part of the Government to let him 
remain where he places himself, a fugitive rebel, than to cap- 
ture him and subject the country to an ill-timed discussion as 
to the constitutionality of a criminal prosecution. He will be 
defended by the ablest legal talent the country affords. And 
as our Constitution is an organic law which did not contemplate 
rebellion as a heinous crime, — in fact, our own independence 
was achieved thereby, — there seems to be much basis for argu- 
ment in his defense. Our Democratic statesmen (even good 
Union men) will employ this argument in his favor before a 
popular jury, and the chances of his acquittal will be strong — 
a hazard obvious to me and to other loyal men.' The Presi- 
dent said : ' Sherman, what is the object of all this ? ' I replied : 
' I desire to have your consent, Mr. President, that when I 
arrest him I may let him escape, and thus protect you and the 
Union-loving citizens of our country from the ordeal of such 
a controversy, which is fraught with danger in any event, and 
which, if successful, can in no way inure to your advantage 
or to that of the cause which you have so effectively vindi- 
cated.' The President began, with his usual good humor, to 
try to change the subject and divert my attention to other mili- 
tary matters ; but as it became late, I rose to depart and told 



RECONCILIATION 277 

the President flatly that unless I had his concurrence to the 
contrary, I should capture and bring Davis back to Washington 
according to the order of the Secretary of War. 

" The President then took my hand very cordially and said : 
' Sherman, I am very much impressed with your views on this 
subject, but I cannot specifically instruct you on so delicate a 
matter of military duty. I will, however, relate a little story 
which reaches the dilemma. In Springfield we had a pious old 
clergyman, much beloved by his flock, and especially by two 
old spinster ladies near his own age, who had worshiped under 
his ministerial care for many years. One of them was taken 
very ill, and, her life being despaired of by her doctor, the 
other sister sent for their old pastor to administer the last rites 
and comforts of his church. These ladies lived some four miles 
distant in the country, and the zealous old clergyman drove 
out through a cold rainstorm in an open buggy, reaching the 
sisters' residence perfectly drenched and shivering with cold. 
On his entering the house the sister insisted on getting a little 
whisky to revive him. But he declined, as being an earnest 
temperance advocate, saying that he could not do that himself 
which he denied to others. The sister then urged him to make 
this an exception, as his life was too valuable to his church for 
him to put it in peril by refusing an antidote. He at last said, 
as I now in substance say to you, Sherman, " I cannot consent 
to your obviously kind and perhaps wise suggestion, but I am 
very thirsty and cold and desire a glass of water, and if there 
be any whisky put in the water it must be put in unbeknownst 
to me." ' " 

The early days of 1869 were inexpressibly saddened for me 
by the death of my old friend. Col. Donald McKay, who had 
helped to set me up in business in my young manhood (as I 
have heretofore related), and for whom I had never ceased to 
have an aflfection that was almost filial. 

Col. McKay enjoyed the distinction of being one of two 
persons in Georgetown (the other was Mr. Waterman) to 
raise their voices in defense of the Union during the Secession 
furor of 1861, and it was primarily to him that South Carolina 



278 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

was indebted for having a bank " which passed through the 
serious times of general suspension without stopping payment 
or refusing to redeem their notes in constitutional currency." 

He was a fine specimen of manly beauty, with regard to 
which he was not free from vanity. Like Lord Byron, he 
dreaded becoming fleshy, and his physician induced him to take 
up cigar smoking as a preventive. He had great difficulty in 
acquiring the habit, since smoking nauseated him at first. But, 
after determined practice, he became addicted to smoking to 
excess. Like Gen. Grant, he was rarely to be seen without a 
cigar in his mouth, and he invariably tendered his cigar-case 
to his friends before opening conversation, even in the street. 
The result was a cancerous sore under the tongue not unlike 
that which caused the death of Gen. Grant. An operation for 
its removal was performed, but was unsuccessful, and he died 
from its effects Jan. 13, 1869. 

In 1865 I received from Col. McKay a letter (already 
quoted) in which he showed himself cheerful under his heavy 
war losses, and quite hopeful of building himself and the com- 
munity of Charleston up again commercially. To that end he 
proposed to re-establish his bank, and invited the writer and his 
friends to take stock in the enterprise. Of course, I responded 
gladly, and I also sent him some $6,000 as a loan, with the 
request that he make use of it in case he needed temporarily a 
little ready cash. 

Within a short time the stock of the People's Bank became 
a valuable investment, and its judicious loans greatly encour- 
aged and stimulated the growth of business in South Carolina. 
Col. McKay offered repeatedly to pay the loan, but I always 
urged him to keep it as long as he could make it profitable at 
seven per cent. 

I received a letter from him dated the very day of his death, 
apprising me for the first time of his dangerous maladv, and 
informing me of his determination to make the hazard of going 
under the surgeon's knife rather than endure the torture of 
the cancer any longer. He inclosed his check for the old loan, 
with interest, and gave explanations regarding some of my 
affairs, of but little moment, which were under his manage- 




DoxALD L. ?^IcKay 

Reproduced from a steel engraving made about 1855 

after a daguerreotj'pe 



I 



RECONCILIATION 279 

ment. He said that he was writing the letter as his last business 
transaction, at ten o'clock a. m., and that his appointment with 
the surgeon was for one o'clock p. m. The rest may be imag- 
ined. Even at this remote date my feelings at the loss of this 
friend are so intense that I cannot suitably express them. Such 
friendships are rare, and gratitude is but a poor return for 
them. 

Early in May of this same year (1869) I decided to retire 
from active business, and sent the following letter of resigna- 
tion to the Finance Committee of the Great Western Marine 
Insurance Company : 

" New York^ 12th May, 1869. 
" To Samuel D. Babcock, Esq., James M. Brown, Esq., Wil- 
son G. Hunt, Esq., John R. Gardner, Esq., John F. 
ScHEPELER, Esq., Finance Committee: 
" Gentlemen: — Desiring to retire from active business and to 
devote more time to my private affairs, I hereby tender my 
resignation as President of the Company, to take effect from 
the first of July next. 

" I cannot refrain from expressing how reluctantly I sever 
the long and pleasant official relation with your board, whose 
influence and judicious co-operation within the past fourteen 
years have placed the Great Western Insurance Company 
among the first marine institutions in the world. Permit me 
on this occasion to return my heartfelt thanks to you individ- 
ually, and through you to each member of the board for the 
many acts of kindness and uniform confidence extended to me 
during my administration, enabling me to overcome the many 
trying ordeals incident to a most hazardous, perplexing, and 
responsible occupation. 

" My retiring will not in the least abate my interest in the 
Company, for, apart from the large interest I keep invested in 
its Capital Stock, the success of the Great Western is among 
the most treasured aspirations of my life. 
" I am very respectfully, 
" Yours truly, 

" Richard Lathers, Pres." 



28o REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

A month later I received the following communication, which 
calls for no comment : 

" Office of the Great Western Insurance Company, 
39 William St., New York, June lo, 1869. 

" At a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Great West- 
ern Marine Insurance Company of the City of New York on 
the loth day of June, in the year 1869, Mr. H. F. Spalding, 
of the Committee appointed at a previous meeting of the Board 
to prepare resolutions expressive of the sentiments of the Board 
upon the occasion of the retirement of Mr. Lathers from the 
Presidency of the Company, presented the following resolu- 
tions, which were unanimously adopted by the Board : 

" ' Resolved, That the Board of Directors of the Great West- 
ern Marine Insurance Company have received with regret the 
announcement of Richard Lathers, Esq. (the President of the 
Company from its foundation), that he desired to retire from 
the management of the Company, upon considerations relating 
to his personal interests, and that he accordingly resigned his 
office to give opportunity for the election of his successor. 

" ' Resolved, That the intelligent, faithful, and constant de- 
votion of Mr. Lathers to the interests of this Company is cor- 
dially recognized by the Board of Directors in their own behalf 
and in behalf of the body of the stockholders, as one of the 
chief causes of the great prosperity which has attended the 
conduct of the business of the Company from the beginning, 
and of the large returns upon their investment in its stock, 
which it has made to its holders. 

" ' Resolved. That the board gladly bears testimony to the 
justice and liberality of Mr. Lathers in his dealing with the 
customers of the Company, with the underwriters of the city, 
and with the general mercantile community, and congratulates 
him upon having maintained for himself and the Company 
the credit of a wise and upright administration of the weighty 
interest dependent upon his care, during peace and war, and 
through the great vicissitudes of trade and currency which have 
marked the period of the Company's history. 



RECONCILIATION 281 

Resolved, That the Board of Directors will take measures 
to prepare and present to their retiring President a service of 
plate, to preserve in the eyes of himself and his family some 
memory of our obligations to him, and of our grateful acknowl- 
edgment of them. " ' William M. Evarts, 

" ' Henry F. Spalding, 
" ' William H. Guion, 
" ' Jas. B. Johnston, 
" ' N. Chandler, 

" ' Committee.' " 
To this I replied : 

" New York, June 24th, 1869. 
" Messrs. W. M. Evarts, H. F. Spalding, W. H. Guion, J. 
BooRMAN Johnston, N. Chandler, Committee : 
" Gentlemen: — I have received through the Secretary a copy 
of the Resolutions reported by you and adopted unanimously by 
the Board of Directors expressive of their kind appreciation 
of my services during my long official connection with them 
in the organization and management of the Company. The 
confidence and support which these gentlemen have uniformly 
extended to me, and the valuable influence of their names on 
both sides of the Atlantic as endorsers of the credit and integ- 
rity of the Company, have been the chief instruments of the 
Company's success, and will continue, I trust, under the able 
administration which succeeds me, to keep the Great Western 
Insurance Company among the first marine institutions in the 
world. The approbation, therefore, of such a body of men at 
the close of my administration fills the measure of my highest 
ambition. I shall treasure these Resolutions as the most valu- 
able heritage of my family and the most valued record of my 
business reputation. Be kind enough to convey my grateful 
thanks to the Board for the Resolutions within referred to, and 
accept for yourselves, as a committee, my sincere appreciation 
of the friendly language in which they are couched. 
" I am very respectfully, 
" Yours truly, 

" Richard Lathers." 



282 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

The two following communications — one from the officers 
and clerks and the other from the clerks^ — gave me even more 
pleasure, if that is possible, than that from the Board of Di- 
rectors, because of their absolutely spontaneous character: 

" Great Western Insurance Company, 

" New York, 24th June, 1869. 
" Richard Lathers, Esq. : 

" Dear Sir: — Having learned with sincere regret that you 
have severed your official connection with this Company, we, 
the officers and clerks, cannot permit the opportunity to pass 
without testifying to you in some substantial manner the esteem 
in which we hold you, and the gratitude we feel for your many 
acts of kindness, during the many years of our association 
together. 

" We desire that you will give us the gratification of sitting 
for your portrait, that you may keep it as a memento, ever 
reminding you of the regard in which you are held. 

" We should be glad if you would inform us whether it 
would be agreeable for you to accede to our wishes, and if so, 
we desire that you should select your own artist at your 
convenience. 

" On behalf of the officers and clerks we remain, 

" Yours respectfully, 
" Alex. R. McKay, 
" James C. Luce, 
" J. R. Smith, 
"Charles F. Allen, 

" Committee." 

" Great Western Insurance Company, 

" New York, 26 July, 1869. 
" Richard Lathers, Esq. : 

" Dear Sir: — We, the undersigned, on behalf of our fellow 
clerks of the Great Western Insurance Company, desire your 
acceptance of the accompanying set of Resolutions adopted on 
the occasion of your resignation as President of the Company. 



RECONCILIATION 283 

" These Resolutions express our sincere feelings towards 
you, and they are offered with the hope that they may occa- 
sionally serve to remind you of those you are leaving, and se- 
cure for them a place in your memory. 

" We remain, very respectfully yours, 

" Charles F. Allen, 

" J. R. Smith, 

" William H. Mayton, 

" Committee." 

The portrait referred to above was painted by Daniel Hunt- 
ington, President of the National Academy, and is now in the 
Chamber of Commerce, where it was hung by special request 
of the Chamber, it being contrary to precedent to receive the 
portrait of a member during his lifetime. 

The presentation of the silver service and of the Huntington 
portrait occurred at my New Rochelle residence, Winyah 
Park, on the evening of October 21. 

The following report of the exercises is a portion of an 
article which appeared in the Port Chester Journal of the next 
day: 

"Mr. Evarts, in making the presentation, said: 'Mr. 
Lathers, it is with great pleasure that it has devolved upon me 
to tender to you in behalf of the Great Western Insurance Com- 
pany and myself, in the presence of your family and this large 
assemblage of friends, this token of our esteem and regard for 
your faithful services in the management of the affairs of the 
Company through its many vicissitudes. You retire of your 
own choice to devote your attention to your domestic affairs. 
The Company was founded with a view of increasing the busi- 
ness and effecting greater stability and security in marine in- 
surance, and at the same time withdrawing the attention of 
the public from the too attractive schemes of the purely mutual 
system. Some steadiness and firmness of faith were necessary 
to cope with the unequal competition and glittering returns of 
the mutual system. The founders of this Company desired to 
establish something more safe, more permanent, even if less 



284 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

brilliant in its apparent results. At one time it seemed doubtful 
whether their efforts would prove successful, and it was feared 
that they might have to be abandoned. When we consider that 
the early experience of the Company was of the most embar- 
rassing character, that the country has had to pass through a 
fearful storm of war and panic, you may well feel proud that 
you have carried us through in safety, with all sails set, with 
every spar strong, and with every name bright and honest. 
Now, Mr. President, in addition to the series of Resolutions 
which the Board of Directors have adopted, expressive of their 
grateful recognition of your valuable and faithful services, and 
the Resolutions of the clerks of the Company accompanied by 
the handsome portrait of yourself as a memento to their es- 
teem and appreciation of your kind and courteous bearing 
towards them, you have set before you this service of plate, 
which is but a vehicle of our good wishes to be constantly be- 
fore your family and yourself, and those who may partake of 
your generous hospitality, as an agreeable reminder of what 
we feel toward you. Everybody can give advice, but very few 
are disposed to receive it. To give advice is human, but to re- 
ceive it is angelic. It is true that I make no pretensions to 
having given it gratuitously. In conclusion I would beg your 
acceptance of this plate, with the recommendation that you 
keep it bright without and full within.' 

" Col. Lathers, in response to the remarks of Mr. Evarts, 
said: 

" ' I accept this valuable and artistic present with grateful 
feelings. This magnificent testimonial of your regard shall 
be transmitted, I trust, to my children as the evidence of their 
father's good fortune in having served men who were as 
liberal in their recognition of faithfulness, as they were sa- 
gacious and generous in directing the business of an institution 
second to none in fostering and protecting the mercantile 
operations of our great country. While sensibly impressed 
with your kind approbation by the contemplation of the beau- 
tiful emblem of hospitality and by the gratification it affords 



RECONCILIATION 285 

me that you have honored me by being the first to inaugurate 
its usefulness, I feel a degree of pride in having demonstrated 
that the best material for the management of a corporation 
is men of prominent success in their own business. It has 
been usual for presidents in forming and operating corpora- 
tions, to select personal friends as directors ; but I have always 
avoided blending social ties with business operations. The 
Directors of the Great Western Insurance Company were a 
body of the most distinguished merchants and bankers whom 
the city of New York afforded, nearly equally divided among 
the great commercial nationalities — American, French, Ger- 
man, Dutch and Greek. Care was even observed to represent 
the different sections of our own country, so that the Board 
was and is virtually international. I had not the pleasure of 
knowing intimately a single member of the original Board, 
and most of them I did not know by sight at the first meeting 
for the organization of the Company. Even our distinguished 
counsel was only known to me as a rising lawyer of great 
promise, whose eloquent and logical defense of the Union at 
Castle Garden, and telling speeches against sundry delinquent 
insurance companies, who were disputing claims under their 
policies, satisfied me that a lawyer who could defend the 
Union and Constitution with so much zeal and ability, and 
could also record so many verdicts against tardy underwriters, 
was the proper material for the counsel of our Company. I 
need not say that the united suffrages of intelligent men of all 
parties and his distinguished reputation on both sides of the 
Atlantic as an orator, statesman and jurist, have fully justified 
the selection. Indeed, the Board and Counsel seem to have 
conspired against any attempt of the officers to resist claims 
however imreasonable, and the officers, for the protection of 
the Company and to serve the ends of justice, were con- 
strained to refuse any business emanating from doubtful 
sources. The business of the Company being thus confined 
to merchants of probity, but little talent was required to con- 
duct it to a reasonable measure of success. The Company, 



286 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

thus organized and continued, has passed through fourteen 
years of vicissitudes of the most trying nature — commercially 
and politically. The Board, composed of the most active mer- 
chants and bankers of the city, has convened monthly at pre- 
cisely the same hour and the same minute during the entire 
period, with a regularity, promptness and unanimity which 
probably have never been equaled by any corporation. No 
resolution has ever been referred which has not passed unani- 
mously, and while every proposition has been fully discussed, 
no personal or disagreeable remark has ever been uttered by 
the Board during the fourteen years. Even my own rather 
positive political course, at a time of great sectional excitement, 
was kindly tolerated by gentlemen who were earnestly opposed 
to my political proclivities, and often, as I gratefully remember, 
shielded me from the aspersions of renegades from my own 
Party. Thank God these sectional questions are passing away, 
and good men of all parties and all sections come together, 
forgetting past issues, which had been greatly misrepresented 
by corrupt and designing men. But I cannot refrain from 
recalling these trying incidents of our official connection, that 
I may, while expressing my appreciation of your uniform co- 
operation in the business of the Company, express also my 
gratitude for your generous personal support at a time when 
prejudice and passion too often usurped the place of reason, 
and severed the ties of the closest friendship. 

" ' The success of the Great Western is therefore attributable 
to the zealous co-operation of an active Board of Directors, 
with large interests of their own to manage, who shaped the 
general operations of the Company, but wisely left the details 
of the business to the judgment of the officers. Their influence 
both at home and abroad gave the Company an unquestionable 
credit, and their known watchfulness of its fair dealing and 
legitimate operation established and confirmed its reputation. 
The Stockholders and the mercantile community have thus 
been mutually benefited, and its retiring President may well 
be indulged the expression of a laudable pride in the honor 
of having presided over such a body of men for fourteen years 



RECONCILIATION 287 

and in receiving so substantial an expression of their appro- 
bation. 

" ' With my best wishes for the continued success of the 
Company, its directors, officers and clerks, and my grateful 
acknowledgments to you. Sir, for your kind manner of con- 
veying the compliment extended by the Board, I have only to 
close my remarks by thanking our honored guests for their 
presence, hoping that each one of them may be favored with 
a service as creditable to the artists who fabricated it, as it is 
to the committee whose taste is illustrated in the design.' " 

The following year I completed my withdrawal from active 
participation in business by resigning my membership in the 
Chamber of Commerce. 

One hot day, not very long before I retired from the Presi- 
dency of the Great Western, I dropped in, as I was in the 
habit of doing after banking hours, upon Mr. Moses Taylor, 
the hard-working President of the National City Bank, which 
was located in Wall Street, only a few doors away. I found 
Mr. Taylor in his little office at the end of the hall, in his 
shirtsleeves and busily engaged making entries in two mon- 
strous account books, which were devoted to his private affairs. 
He had allowed his private secretary to leave with the em- 
ployees of the Bank, he said, because he thought his factotum 
needed recreation more than he did himself. 

After a little general conversation, Mr. Taylor remarked: 
" I perceive you are about to resign your Presidency in the 
Great Western. You are too young to retire from business, 
and must be very rich to afford the loss of your large salary." 
I said, " No, Mr. Taylor, you know I am not very rich. But 
I have enough to take care of my family if they will consent, 
as I think they will, to live modestly on my income ; and if 
they will not, I have no idea of dying of apoplexy, as many do, 
to make them rich." " Perhaps you are wise," he responded ; 
" but few will follow your example in this day of large for- 
tunes in our city." 

In a very short time the painful news came to me that my 



288 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

good friend had paid the penalty of overworking his brain. 
He was prostrated many days by the attack, but was able to 
converse with friends. When I called, he reminded me of 
our last meeting, but generously relieved me of embarrassment 
by saying that he knew my remark was only intended as a 
jocular reply to his own question. 



CHAPTER X 

REAL RECONSTRUCTION 

In the fall of 1870 (with a view to studying and aiding, as 
far as I might, the financial and commercial development of 
the South), I took up my residence in Charleston. I had 
abundant occasion to observe there that the carpet-bag officials 
of South Carolina took a fiendish delight in persecuting the 
respectable citizens (who could not help showing contempt for 
their igriorance and resentment for their robberies) by bring- 
ing against them as many charges of disloyalty as would be 
entertained by the courts ; and these were legion, for the officers 
of the courts were only too glad, as a rule, to take sides with 
the persecutors. Among others who became obnoxious to 
these disreputable interlopers was the aged and much revered 
ex-Postmaster of Charleston, Alfred Huger, who was too 
honest to hide the loathing he felt for them. 

Alfred Huger was of Huguenot blood, a descendant in direct 
line from the man of the same name who so gallantly released 
Lafayette from the political prison of Olmutz during the 
French Revolution. He had served as Postmaster in his na- 
tive city of Charleston from 1835 or thereabouts (when he 
was called to succeed the Postmaster who had been appointed 
by President Washington) till 1865 — an example of long 
tenure of office which would have been remarkable in any 
other part of this country than the South, where, in ante- 
bellum davs, political services were not held to establish a 
claim to office, and where there were no political bosses who 
could have secured a position for even a street sweeper. 

Like most young men of education and social position in 
his State, Huger, after leaving college, was ambitious to enter 
the Legislature and had no difficulty in doing so. 

When Jackson's celebrated Force Bill came up for discussion 

289 



290 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

before that body, he defended the action of the President and 
Congress (to the great indignation of the NuUification mem- 
bers and the great surprise of his friends), on the ground 
that the revenue laws, like all other laws wise and unwise, 
should be supported. He admitted that he believed them un- 
wise and against the interests of the State, but he insisted 
that they must be enforced by the Federal authorities vmtil 
they could be legally abolished, or constitutional government 
would become a farce. This action on his part caused his 
constituents in Charleston to hold an indignation meeting, 
which unanimously passed a resolution asking for his resig- 
nation. To this he calmly replied, that, while he could not 
recognize the doctrine of instruction to members of legislative 
bodies which had been accepted in some other States (never 
in Carolina), he would have promptly surrendered his com- 
mission if the request for him to do so had been based on his 
mental or moral incapacity; but that he could not think of 
resigning at the behest of a portion of his constituents (how- 
ever large that portion might be), when their avowed object 
was to fill his place with another who would take the same 
oath he had taken to support the Federal as well as the State 
Constitution and uphold the Federal as well as the State laws, 
and would then deliberately perjure himself. He added that 
he. their present representative, would be guilty of a base act 
of cowardice if he should abandon his place, since he would 
not only be shirking his duty as a citizen, but would be acting 
unfairly towards those of his constituents who were loyal to 
the National Government and who expected him to be loyal 
to his oath of office. 

This patriotic and manly defense of the Government was re- 
peated to President Jackson, who was as quick to reward pub- 
lic service as he was to denounce, with more fervor than 
judgment, any opposition. He promptly removed the Post- 
master of Charleston (the Charleston Postmastership being 
at that time the only position of honor and emolument in 
South Carolina which the President controlled) and appointed 
Huger to succeed him. Huger at once wrote to the Presi- 




Alfred Huger 

Reproduced from a photograph of a pahiting by A. 11. Emmons, 
made for Colonel Lathers shortly after the war 



J 



REAL RECONSTRUCTION 291 

dent, expressing his gratitude for the honor intended, but 
adding, " If I am correct in supposing that your Excellency 
has been moved to this means of honoring me by any fancied 
or real service of mine to yourself and the country, then I 
desire to ask as a further favor of your administration that 
you reinstate the Postmaster you have removed, who, while 
he may have unwisely antagonized your Union policy (in- 
fluenced, no doubt, by the unfortunate perversion of State 
Rights, which I know how hard it is to resist), was yet ap- 
pointed by President Washington, and is, in all respects, as a 
citizen and an official, perfectly acceptable to the people ; and 
it has never been the practice in this State to appoint or re- 
move officeholders for political reasons." 

This generosity met a hearty response, and the commission 
was promptly returned to the old Postmaster, who died in 
office a year or so after, when Jackson again appointed Huger. 
He was occupying this position when I visited Charleston in 
1861, and I found him as staunch and fearless a Union man 
then as when he made his speech against Nullification in 

1833- 

When the Confederacy had been fully organized under the 
Presidency of Jefferson Davis, this Union veteran was re- 
moved; but the citizens of Charleston, true to their inherited 
ideas regarding oificeholding, remonstrated bravely, telling 
President Davis that their firmly established custom of re- 
taining good men in office, regardless of political differences, 
should not be interfered with. So President Davis promptly 
appointed Huger to fill his own vacancy. But here a difficulty 
arose ; Huger said he could not serve as an official under a 
government which he regarded as revolutionary, however 
much he respected the persons controlling it, though he should 
conform as a private individual to the changed situation 
through force of circumstances. His friends advanced the 
same arguments which he had presented to Jackson in 1833 
in favor of the retention of his predecessor. They said that 
the citizens of Charleston, respecting his long and firm advo- 
cacy of the Union, did not expect him to change his views 



292 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

on that subject, but only desired his honest and efficient ser- 
vices in the Post Office as formerly. He consented, finally, 
on condition that he should be permitted to seal in a box the 
postage stamps and the gold of the Government of the United 
States which were in his official custody, deposit them in 
such bank or place of safety as he might select, and return them 
to their rightful owner after the peace, which at that time 
was generally hoped for, had been attained. The box was 
duly placed in one of the Charleston banks and labeled, " The 
property of the United States in the custody of its ex-Post- 
master, Alfred Huger." 

When the bombardment of Charleston commenced, Huger 
applied to the Confederate authorities for permission to re- 
move this sealed bo.x to a place of safety some hundred miles 
from the coast, and the request was granted, although it was 
regarded as the foolish whim of an oversensitive officeholder. 
In due time, however, the Confederate authorities made use 
of the funds, nothwithstanding the Charleston pledge. 

During the War Mr. Huger's plantation was raided and his 
plantation buildings burned by a Union gunboat dispatched 
up one of the rivers for the express purpose of punishing 
a " rebel " postmaster. He had the misfortune to lose his 
Charleston residence, also, before the War was over, by the 
great conflagration which nearly destroyed Charleston. I am 
informed that after the burning of his city house, the last thing 
of value he had, he and his wife, who were both in declining 
years, were found seated on a stone not far away from the 
ruins with a basket of silver by their side, which was all they 
had been able to save from the flames. 

Under the carpet-bag regime, the carpet-bag District Attor- 
ney brought suit against this unfortunate man for the Post 
Office money which the Confederate Government had confis- 
cated — some three or four thousand dollars, perhaps. The 
case came before my friend, the United States Circuit Judge 
Bryan, an old Union man appointed by President Lincoln 
because of his sterling character. The facts were proven to be 
those I have just detailed, and the judge not only emphasized. 



REAL RECONSTRUCTION 293 

in his charge to the jury, the honest effort of the postmaster, 
but explained that it is universal law that when a government 
is unable for any reason to protect its officers, the officers 
cannot be held responsible for any loss which may arise. The 
jury, without leaving their seats, acquitted the defendant. To 
the surprise of everyone, the carpet-bag District Attorney gave 
notice of an appeal, claiming that in some old decision in the 
West it had been ruled that a public fiscal officer was always 
liable whether protected or not, and he announced that he pro- 
posed under that ruling to prosecute the claim further. 

Many ineffectual attempts were made to have the case 
heard speedily by the Appellate Court, and the Attorney-gen- 
eral (one Ackerman, a carpet-bag official from the North, but 
appointed from Georgia) was asked to dismiss the case, but 
he turned a deaf ear to all entreaties. Having been an ex- 
treme Secessionist in Georgia, where he had lived for some 
time before and during the War, said Ackerman posed in 
Washington, after the War, as a fervent Union man, and he 
resented, as such renegades always do, the well-earned 
reputation of Mr. Huger, with whose loyal record he was 
perfectly familiar. 

As I had the honor of knowing President Grant and many 
of his Cabinet, I determined to go to Washington and reveal 
there the true history of Huger's official life from the Jack- 
son administration to the close of the Civil War. Armed with 
letters from distinguished Republicans — among them William 
M. Evarts, Moses Grinnel, and William E. Dodge— I called 
upon President Grant, who expressed great sympathy for the 
Union Ex-Postmaster as soon as he heard his story, and 
promised me that he would relieve Huger of a disgraceful 
prosecution. I promptly advised Mr. Henry Gourdin and 
C. T. Loundes, friends and bondsmen of Huger, of the happy 
outcome of my mission. But I had hardly reached my summer 
residence in the North when I received a rather tart letter 
from the President saying that the Attorney-general had in- 
formed him that the Huger case was before the Appellate 
Court, not on the appeal of the prosecution as I had stated. 



294 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

but on the appeal of the lawyer of the defendant, who had 
been convicted instead of acquitted. I went to Charleston 
immediately, and arming myself there with the verdict of the 
jury under the seal of the Court verifying the statements I 
had made to the President, I returned to Washington. The 
President informed me he was glad, for my sake, of tiiis veri- 
fication, but that he could not render the assistance he would 
like to render because the Attorney-general had objected to 
his official interference until the case was formally adjudicated 
by the Court. He offered to give me a letter to the Attorney- 
general expressing his sympathy for Mr. Huger. I told the 
President that I feared the prejudice of his official, who, bemg 
an old Secessionist transformed into a carpet-bag Union man, 
would resent everything friendly to a genuine Union man's 
cause. The letter was received by the Attorney-general ex- 
actly as I had feared it would be. With great pomposity, he 
informed me that he was too busy to listen to these rebel ap- 
peals. I forgot myself and replied, " Mr. Attorney-general, 
I am and always have been a Union Southern man, and if I 
am not mistaken we were not on the same side before or dur- 
ing the war. I am here in behalf of an original Union South- 
ern man who is being persecuted by carpet-baggers, many of 
whom were not long since in rebellion. I am here with the 
President's letter ; have you any reply for me to carry back 
to him?" He said, "I am not here to be interrogated by 
you." I then said, " Will you say when you will investigate 
the matter as the President requests? I am here on a mission 
of public policy, and I propose to discharge it. And while 
I am always properly impressed by the dignity of public offi- 
cials, I cannot divest my mind of the fact that you are but 
a public servant whose salary I help to pay, and I am not dis- 
posed to rank you above the President of the United States, 
who appoints and directs you. and who has had the courtesy to 
listen to, and, in my judgment, to sympathize with the griev- 
ance of Mr. Huger. In fact, by letter, he refers the matter 
to you for relief as coming within the province of your speci- 
fic duties." 



REAL RECONSTRUCTION 295 

Ackerman said finally that he might look into the case in 
a couple of weeks, but he did not appear to recognize my 
view of our mutual relations, and we parted in very bad 
temper. The utter incapacity of this man compelled the Presi- 
dent to remove him not long after, and he appointed Gen. 
Williams, a sound lawyer, as his successor. 

On learning of the change, I visited Columbia and laid the 
Huger case before the new Attorney-general. He listened to 
me sympathetically, and said : " Return to Charleston and put 
your statements into writing and I think I can relieve your 
friend." I had just finished a letter to Gen. Williams, in ac- 
cordance with this advice, when Mr. Wm. H. Aspinwall, en 
route from Florida to New York, called on me in Charleston. 
After spending an evening with me he offered to stop over 
in Washington, if he could be of service to me there. I at 
once produced the letter to the Attorney-general I had been 
preparing, and said, " If you concur in these statements and 
can get Mr. Fish, Secretary of State, to present this document, 
you will be doing one of your customary kind and liberal acts 
for the South." He replied, " Apart from my sympathy with 
the South, it would afford me great pleasure to serve Mr. 
Huger, for his brother, I believe, was a classmate of mine at 
college." 

In due course I received a formal document from Attor- 
ney-general Williams discharging the complaint against Alfred 
Huger. As I had heard that both Mr. and Mrs. Huger were 
unable to leave the house by reason of illness, I sent the dis- 
charge to Mr. Huger's two bondsmen, who dispatched it with 
all speed to Mr. Huger by a mounted messenger. The mes- 
senger found both Mr. and Mrs. Huger confined to their 
beds, the latter having just injured herself seriously by a fall. 
But, when the discharge was read, she sprang out of bed, 
exclaiming, " Now I can die in peace, for my husband's official 
honor is vindicated." 

A short time after, I attended the funeral of this much per- 
secuted Union man. The sad occasion was rendered doubly 
sad by the agony of the aged wife, whose loyalty and affec- 



296 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

tion had never failed her husband during his long and dra- 
matic career. 

Another Union Southerner — also of Huguenot descent — 
who had made himself so indispensable to his fellow-citizens 
by a long career of usefulness that they insisted on having the 
benefit of his services (in spite of his Union sentiments) 
during the Civil War, was James L. Petigru. He was selected 
as codifier of the State laws because he was considered, by 
reason of his pre-eminence in legal learning, the patriarch of 
the South Carolina bar. He possessed a moral courage which 
made him follow unswervingly what he believed to be right 
without posing as a reformer or as a victim. In the words 
of Judge Bryan (another noble Union Southerner), "James 
L. Petigru knew that the gate of power — the only gate to 
power under the Confederacy — was through the State. He 
knew that through the State alone could he hope to reach the 
country and the world and win the large distinction worthy 
of his talents. But he loved his people better than himself, 
and he could not subscribe to a creed which he believed would 
carry death to the country and bring ruin on his State. So. 
without complaint, he submitted himself to his limited and 
narrow destiny." 

In 1869 the Charleston Chamber of Commerce sent a me- 
morial to Congress asking the National Government to trans- 
form the old Charleston Customhouse and Post Office building 
(which was rapidly falling into ruins from neglect) into a Post 
and Telegraph Office ; but Congress showed little disposition to 
accede to this request. In June, 1870, while I was on a visit to 
Washington, I received a letter from S. Y. Tupper, First 
Vice-President of the Chamber of Commerce, urging me to 
do what I could to further this project. Accordingly, I paid 
a visit to the Secretary of the Treasury and appealed to him to 
save a Revolutionary edifice in which the patriot Hayne had 
paid the penalty of his patriotism with his life, and which 
bears the same relation to Charleston and South Carolina as 
Faneuil Hall bears to Boston and Massachusetts. The Sec- 
retary sent at once for his architect and directed him to repair 



REAL RECONSTRUCTION 297 

the building, and to-day this grand old monument stands as 
a splendid illustration of the fact that blood is thicker than 
water. 

In December of this year I attended, as a delegate from 
Charleston, the Convention of the National Board of Trade 
at Buffalo. A sumptuous banquet was offered the visitors by 
the merchants of that city. The morning before this event a 
representative of one of the daily journals called on me and re- 
quested a copy of the speech which he understood I was to make 
to the toast, " Our Country." He observed that the appoint- 
ment of a delegate from South Carolina to respond to that 
sentiment was a proper compliment to my well-known Union 
attitude before and during the war, and his journal desired 
to obtain a copy of my remarks in advance, so that they could 
be printed in the morning edition. 

I sat down and prepared an address, and, handing it to the 
reporter, requested him to send slips to the other papers and 
one to myself in time for me to use it at the dinner. This re- 
quest was overlooked, and. being engaged all day in the dis- 
cussions of the Convention, I had no opportunity to go to the 
office for my speech before it was time to dress for the 
dinner. I made a few hasty notes, therefore, and spoke there- 
from, depending on the inspiration of the occasion. I closed 
by toasting Ex-President Fillmore, who sat on my right, and 
asked that the toast be drunk standing. This was done with 
a will, after which Mr. Fillmore made a patriotic response. 

The next morning two speeches attributed to me appeared 
in the Buffalo papers. One was from the copy I had furnished, 
and the other from the stenographic reports of the banquet. 
Considerable discussion arose between the papers as to which 
of the two speeches was genuine. I was so mortified that I 
did not preserve a copy of either. My impression, however, 
is that the reported speech was the better of the two, because 
it had the advantage of the reporter's corrections of the infelic- 
ities of expression which are likely to abound in an extempo- 
raneous after-dinner utterance. 

President Fillmore's absolute withdrawal from public af- 



298 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

fairs in his later years had somewhat abated his influence even 
in his own city of Buffalo. When I was asked to speak to the 
toast, " Our Country," by the committee of the Buffalo ban- 
quet, I said that, while I appreciated the compliment, I thought 
that Mr. Fillmore, as Ex-President of the United States, ought 
to respond to that sentiment. To this the chairman laughingly 
replied, " Oh, we have old Fillmore always with us ' to do the 
patriotic,' and we desire South Carolina to take it up." In fact, 
no place was given to Mr. Fillmore in the programme, and he 
would not have been called upon to speak but for my toasting 
of the Ex-President of the United States. 

A short time after the expiration of Mr. Fillmore's term as 
President — a position which he filled very acceptably to both 
parties — I happened to meet him in Broadway near Bond Street 
one morning, and as the weather was fine we walked down 
town together for the sake of the exercise. I was actively en- 
gaged in business at that time, and when we reached Fulton 
Street I was naturally recognized by many of my business 
acquaintances. Mr. Fillmore remarked playfully, " Colonel, 
you must be very popular in this quarter." I replied in the 
same tone of pleasantry, " Not nearly as popular, Mr. Presi- 
dent, as you were while you were in office. I well remember 
what a stir it made when you passed down Wall Street among 
the great financiers. In this location, Mr. President, a live 
dog is more valued than a dead lion." 

At a meeting of the Charleston Board of Trade, March 31, 
1871 (one of the largest meetings known in the history of the 
Board), the first organized protest in South Carolina against 
the abuses of carpet-bag rule was made by arranging for the 
assembling at Columbia of a Tax-Payers' Convention which 
should represent the interests of the taxpayers of the entire 
State. 

I quote herewith a portion of the printed official report of 
the proceedings of this Board of Trade meeting : 

" The meeting was called to order by the chairman, Vice- 
President Geo. H. Walter, who spoke as follows: 



REAL RECONSTRUCTION 299 

"' Gentlemen of the Board of Trade: — The purpose of your 
meeting is to take into consideration the present financial con- 
dition of the State, and by deliberation to devise such meas- 
ures as will enable us, by co-operation with our fellow-citi- 
zens throughout this commonwealth, to relieve ourselves of 
the intolerable burdens which now oppress us in the present, 
and with an ominous prospect of their being increased in the 
future, unless prompt and decisive action at once be taken. It 
is only necessary to look at the alarming increase of the debt 
of the State, and the reckless expenditure which has marked 
the history of the State for the past five years, to satisfy us 
at once, that, as taxpayers, we are bearing a burden too grievous 
to be borne, and which must inevitably result in bankruptcy 
and ruin. It means confiscation, and there are those who do 
not hesitate to announce that such is the purpose. We are 
to he taxed out of our property. 

" ' I am unwilling, with others, to submit to this condition of 
aflfairs without an effort to remedy the evil. 

" ' In i860, with the taxable property of the State valued in 
round numbers at $500,000,000, the people of South Carolina 
supported an economical and honest government at a cost of 
about $400,000, while the debt of the State was about $5,000,- 
000. To-day we are taxed upon a property which, at an over- 
estimated assessment, is less than $190,000,000, and are told 
that we will be called upon to raise $4,000,000 to pay the in- 
terest on a debt of $15,000,000, and the so-called expenses 
of the State. Thus, while the taxable property has decreased 
in value about sixty-two per cent., our taxes have been in- 
creased ten-fold, and the debt of the State three-fold in the 
same period. It is due to ourselves to protest against the 
continuation of this iniquity, and, in unmistakable language, to 
state that we will no longer tolerate it. With this great fraud 
perpetrated in the past, it is now proposed to create a new 
loan to be known as the " Sterling Debt." It is only another 
" turn of the screw," which is already destroying us. and it is 
our duty to ourselves, as well as " good faith " with the present 
honest creditors of the State, publicly and clearly to aflirm to 



300 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

them, and to warn the capitalists who may be disposed to make 
such a loan, that we regard its creation as illegal, and that we 
will resist its payment by all legitimate means. I trust your 
deliberations will be marked with harmony and unanimity, and 
result in promoting the best interests of this commonwealth. 

" ' The meeting is ready for business.' 

" Col. Richard Lathers of this city, for many years the 
President of the Great Western Marine Insurance Company 
of New York, arose and submitted the following resolutions: 

" ' Whereas, Under the operation of the present State Gov- 
ernment, the majority of the property holders and taxpayers 
of the State, from whom the public revenue is mainly derived, 
are excluded from any power in the legislation of the State, 
and from any practical influence in the imposition of taxes : 

" ' And Whereas, The moneys raised by taxation are im- 
providently and corruptly used and expended by persons who 
hold office under the State Government, and the sums ap- 
propriated for alleged public uses are excessive and extrava- 
gant: 

" ' And Whereas, The credit of the State has been pledged 
illegally, and it is now proposed to pledge the credit of the State 
for further loans, by a new issue of bonds, which may be 
negotiated in the market to persons who may take them, in 
ignorance of the circumstances under which they are issued. 
Therefore, 

" ' I. Resolved, That we, the property holders and taxpayers 
of the State, residing in the City of Charleston, do hereby deem 
it our duty to declare that the bonds heretofore issued without 
legal sanction, and the so-called " Sterling Loan," or any other 
bonds or obligations hereafter issued purporting to be under, 
and by virtue of the authority of this State, will not be held 
binding on us, and that we shall, in every manner and at all 
times resist the payment thereof, or the enforcement of any 
tax to pay the same, by all legitimate means within our power. 

" ' 2. Resolved, That we deem it our duty to warn all persons 
not to receive, by way of purchase, loan, or otherwise, any 
bond or obligation hereafter issued, purporting to bind the 



REAL RECONSTRUCTION 301 

property or pledge the credit of the State ; and that all such 
bonds or obligations will be held by us to be null and void, 
as having been issued corruptly, improvidently, and for fraudu- 
lent purposes, and in derogation of the rights of that portion 
of the people of this State upon whom the public burdens are 
made to rest. 

" ' 3. Resolved, That the taxpayers of the State are hereby 
requested to meet in their respective counties for the consid- 
eration of this subject, and the enormous tax levies of the 
current year, and for the appointment of two delegates to 
represent each county in a State Convention to be held in 
Columbia on the second Tuesday in May next, for the same 
purpose. 

'■ ' 4. Resolved, That this State Convention of Taxpayers be 
requested to confer with his Excellency, the Governor, on the 
dangerous fiscal condition of the State, and request his official 
aid and co-operation in the investigation of the accounts of 
the Comptroller and the State Agent in New York, so that 
the amount and character of the bonded debt and all other 
liabilities of the State can be clearly stated, with a view to 
such further action as may be necessary for the protection of 
the public creditors and of the taxpayers of the common- 
wealth.' " 

These resolutions were unanimously adopted after remarks 
in their favor by myself and others, and, at a subsequent meet- 
ing, Mr. Henry Gourdin and I were appointed to represent 
the Board in the proposed Convention. 

The Taxpayers' Convention opened May 9, and continued 
in session four days, at the end of which it adjourned subject 
to future call. Hon. W. D. Porter was unanimously elected 
its President. Resolutions were passed and a petition to the 
Legislature was adopted. Little was accomplished, it is true, 
in the way of direct practical relief, but an impression was 
created in the public mind that the administration of the af- 
fairs of the State must be more in accord with the desires of 
honest and conservative citizens hereafter. 



302 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

At the Annual Dinner of the Hibernian Society on St. 
Patrick's Day, 1872, at the anniversaries of the New England 
Society on Forefathers' Day in 1872 and 1873, and at prac- 
tically all the other frequent public occasions at which I spoke 
during my residence in Charleston, I made it a point to em- 
phasize the necessity of a revolt on the part of all good citi- 
zens of both colors against the disgraceful situation in which 
the State had been placed ; and in the political campaign of 
1872 I supported actively the Greeley ticket (particularly in 
Western Massachusetts, where I had a summer residence), be- 
cause the success of this ticket seemed calculated to bring about 
the reforms of which the South stood in such sore need. 

The committee appointed to notify Horace Greeley formally 
of his nomination arranged to meet him at his celebrated farm, 
Chappaqua, which was only a few miles from my Westchester 
residence. I was invited by this committee to accompany 
them and introduce them to my rural neighbor, with whom my 
personal relations (possibly because of our common love of 
agriculture) had always been friendly, in spite of the fact 
that I had been roundly abused by the Tribune. We reached 
the Chappaqua depot about eleven o'clock and found Mr. 
Greeley waiting for us in the garb in which he was always 
depicted by the caricaturists. He greeted us all in a most 
neighborly manner — quite as if we had come to look over his 
farm — marched us up hill and down dale to a spring about 
which numerous tin cups were ranged, and invited us to trs' 
the water, which, the day being sultry, we were not loath to 
do. He then conducted us to his residence, on the beautiful 
lawn of which a sumptuous lunch was spread. After being 
presented to Mrs. Greeley and his daughters, we formed a 
circle and the chairman of the committee read an address of 
notification, to which Mr. Greeley replied in an effective, com- 
mon-sense speech which contained the usual promises of a 
candidate. Lunch was then served, speeches followed, and 
we left, determined to elect our compromise and reform can- 
didate. 

The beautiful spirit of Horace Greeley and his splendid 



REAL RECONSTRUCTION 303 

magnanimity were exemplified by his kindness after the war 
to the Southerners who came to New York for the means 
with which to re-estabhsh their ruined enterprises. 

It was my habit to give such assistance as I could to my 
friends, and to solicit for them such credit from business men 
as would enable them to operate their mercantile and manu- 
facturing plants. I found Horace Greeley an ever-ready and 
efficient supporter of the unfortunate journalists. Not only 
did he say kind things of them in his editorials, but he lent 
them his credit to enable them to procure type and paper. On 
meeting him in the street one day, I said, " Mr. Greeley, I 
want to express my thanks to you for your kind and liberal 
response to my recommendations of needy Southern friends, 
for you have, indeed, been their good angel." He retorted 
rather sharply, " If you have truly felt this way, why did you 
introduce your friend Rhett of the Charleston Mercury to 
others instead of to me?" To this I replied, "I could not 
be so rude as to ask you for assistance for the editor of the 
Charleston Mercury, your life-long enemy, whose abuse you 
returned in terms still more violent." " Ah ! there you were 
mistaken," he answered. " You did not correctly estimate my 
character. Nothing would have afforded me more pleasure 
than to have returned my old enemy kindness for his persist- 
ent abuse." 

Greeley was exceedingly brusque, however, with applicants 
for his favor when his sympathies were not enlisted. 

One day a big, burly negro preacher, carrying an enormous 
gold-headed cane and arrayed in a correspondingly enormous 
white clerical cravat, called on Greeley in his sanctum, where 
everyone had access to him without ceremony or previous 
notice. He was standing up, as usual, at a high desk, busily 
writing. The intruder, finding that Greeley paid no attention 
to his entrance, rapped on the floor with his cane. Greeley 
looked at him a moment and said, " Well ? " and returned to 
his writing. The clerical visitor again gave Mr. Greeley 
notice of his presence by another rap on the floor. Greeley, 
continuing to write, said, " State your business." " I have 



304 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

called, Sir," the preacher said, " to ask you what can be done 
for the moral and physical elevation of our race," whereupon 
Greeley turned and said, " Let them go down to New Jersey 
and raise sweet potatoes." 

The last two years of my stay in Charleston were rendered 
exceedingly agreeable by the fact that I was privileged to en- 
tertain a large number of Northern visitors who acquired 
thereby a better understanding of the South and a friendlier 
feeling toward it. 

The following: from the Charleston News and Courier of 
March 20, 1873, tells in detail the first of the occasions on which 
I was able to bring together socially representative citizens of 
the South and of the North. 

"A LEAF FROM HISTORY 

" WHY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DID NOT PROSECUTE 
JEFFERSON DAVIS 

" A distinguished party of gentlemen from Massachusetts 
who arrived in the city last Wednesday on their way farther 
South, and a select party of Charleston gentlemen, who had 
been invited to meet them, were entertained by Col. Richard 
Lathers at his mansion on the South Battery yesterday after- 
noon. The visitors from the North were the Hon. John H. 
Clifford, who has held successively the positions of Attorney 
General, Governor and Supreme Court Justice of Massachu- 
setts, and who is now the President of the Boston and Provi- 
dence R. R. Company; the Hon. John C. Hoadley, of 
Lawrence, Mass.; Major H. Seabrooke; and one or two other 
gentlemen. The Charlestonians who were invited to meet 
them included a number of the most prominent gentlemen of 
the city, and the meeting of these representative men from the 
antipodes of the country proved an exceedingly pleasant one, 
both parties taking occasion to express to their host the 
pleasure that the meeting afforded them. 

" Judge Clifford is one of the most distinguished jurists 
of Massachusetts and has been prominently connected with 
several events which have become matters of national history. 



REAL RECONSTRUCTION 305 

The famous Webster-Parkman murder occurred while he was 
the Attorney General of Massachusetts, and he conducted 
the prosecution of that case to its final result in the execution 
of Dr. Webster for his atrocious crime. Another event of 
great historical interest in which Judge Clifford participated, 
was the solemn consultation of a small number of the most 
able lawyers of the North at Washington, a few months after 
the war, upon the momentous question as to whether the 
Federal Government should commence a criminal prosecution 
against the Hon. Jefferson Davis, for his participation and 
leadership in the War of Secession. In this council, which 
was surrounded at the time with the greatest secrecy, and 
which has never yet been described, were United States At- 
torney General Speed, Judge Clifford, the Hon. William M. 
Evarts, and perhaps a half dozen others, who had been selected 
from the whole Northern profession for their legal ability 
and acumen; and the result of their deliberation was the sud- 
den abandonment of the case by the Federal Government in 
view of the insurmountable difficulties in the way of getting 
a final conviction, which were revealed by their patient study 
of the law bearing upon the case. Mr. Hoadley, then and now 
a near neighbor and intimate friend of Judge Clifford, relates 
that before the latter set out for Washington to join this con- 
ference, he paid him (Mr. Hoadley) the compliment of call- 
ing upon him to consult upon the momentous question which 
he was about to assist in solving, and it was agreed between 
them that unless it were clear that the conviction of Mr. Davis 
would follow his trial, and that the law and the facts on the 
side of the prosecution would be irresistible in the Supreme 
Court as well as in whatever court of original jurisdiction the 
case might be initiated, it would be the part of wisdom and 
true statesmanship, as well as policy, not to begin the pros- 
ecution. The conference took place and was long, learned and 
profound. The Federal Constitution, the law of nations, the 
decisions of the Supreme Court, the trial of Aaron Burr and 
other causes celcbres having more or less bearing on the case 
then under consideration, and the whole list of state trials 



3o6 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

in the history of the civilized world, were studied, weighed, 
analyzed and dissected. The council was divided upon some 
points and agreed upon others. Some were strenuous for 
prosecution, others who had weighed the subject more care- 
fully, insisted from the first upon the futility of such a course, 
and, finally, the wiser councils of the latter prevailed and the 
proposed prosecution of Mr. Davis was, as will be remembered, 
suddenly abandoned, although it may be doubtless news to 
many of our readers to learn that this sudden change of policy 
was the direct result of this solemn conclave. After the coun- 
cil had adjourned, and Judge Clifford had returned to his 
home, Mr. Hoadley inquired the result of their deliberations, 
and Judge Clifford made a striking and characteristic reply 
in something like the following language ; ' Remarkable as 
the fact may appear, we find that the laws of the United 
States are not so constructed as to afford any certainty of 
punishing high treason or rebellion, and Mr. Davis, if ar- 
raigned under them, cannot be brought to conviction. Per- 
haps it is that the men who framed our fundamental law and 
system of government, and who were then fighting for liberty, 
with halters about their necks, did not pay much attention to 
the question of punishing in the future the acts which they 
were committing themselves.' 

"Another reminiscence illustrating the sentiment of the think- 
ing men of the North in 1865, was related by Mr. Hoadley, 
of the Hon. John A. Andrew, then Governor of Massachusetts. 
It was on the day of the grand review of the Federal Army 
in Washington ; a number of gentlemen were being entertained 
at the residence of General S. L. M. Barlow, in that city, and 
the conversation had turned to the subject of bringing the 
leaders of the Confederate cause to punishment under the 
Federal law of the land, when Gov. Andrew expressed himself 
as follows : ' It cannot be done — the criminal law has no ap- 
plication here. Why, it is proved by its very title that the 
criminal law is a law for criminals — the laws or the code of 
laws formed by the great body of the people, who are in the 
main good men, for the regulation and punishment of the bad 



REAL RECONSTRUCTION 307 

men scattered here and there throughout society. But when a 
whole people commit an act, rash, impolitic and direful in its 
consequences though it may be, and the best and wisest men 
and women of the whole people participate therein, encourage 
and lead it, it is impossible to consider the criminal law as 
being framed to meet that case, or as being in any way ap- 
plicable thereto. These people appealed to the arbitrament of 
war, and they have suffered by the war — that is their punish- 
ment. I believed in giving them war, when it was war they 
wanted — yes, and I gave a captain's commission once to a 
Massachusetts sergeant for no other reason than that he had 
with his own hands hanged seven guerrillas. That was war, 
that was the measure of their punishment, but criminal law 
has nothing to do with this case.' This declaration of the 
emphatic Governor of Massachusetts caused the remark, when 
related yesterday, that it had an historical parallel in the fa- 
mous words of Burke, when he told the British Parliament, in 
reference to the American Revolutionists, that he ' knew of 
no way to write an indictment of a whole people.' 

" A number of similar reminiscences of both Northern and 
Southern history were related, and after an hour or two of 
pleasant conversation and mutual expressions of a desire of 
better acquaintance and a fuller appreciation of the condition 
of both sections of the country, the guests separated, Judge 
Clifford proceeding with his family to Savannah, whence he 
expects to return in a few days to make a longer stay in this 
city. 

" On Thursday Col. Lathers entertained a small party at 
his residence, who were invited to meet Judge T. Davies, of 
the New York Supreme Court of Appeals, who is making a 
brief visit to the South. A visit from the Hon. George 
Boutwell, late Secretary of the Treasury and now Senator- 
elect from Massachusetts, is also expected by Col. Lathers in 
the course of a week or two." 

About a month later the same journal contained the fol- 
lowing : 



3o8 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 
" A BRILLIANT RECEPTION 

" SOUTHERN HOSPITALITIES TO NORTHERN VISITORS 

" One of the most notable social events of the Charleston 
season was the brilliant party given last evening at the man- 
sion of Col. Richard Lathers, on the South Battery, in honor 
of the Hon. Horatio Seymour, ex-Governor of New York, 
and the Hon. William Cullen Bryant the venerable editor of 
the New York Evening Post, but better known and more en- 
deared to the people as their loved ' Poet of the Woods.' 
The cards of invitation to this ' At Home ' of Colonel and 
Mrs. Lathers had been issued for some days, and the party 
assembled in response was a most select and fashionable as- 
semblage, including the most prominent gentlemen of the city, 
with their ladies, as well as a number of military guests from 
the garrison at the Citadel. 

" The earlier hours of the evening were occupied with a 
delightful conversazione in the elegant drawing room of the 
mansion, and at about eleven o'clock an invitation from the 
host summoned the party to the parlors where supper had been 
prepared. After this repast. Col. Lathers introduced Mr. S. Y. 
Tupper, President of the Chamber of Commerce, who grace- 
fully extended a formal welcome to the principal guests of the 
evening, and expressed the obligations of the whole Southern 
people to the venerated poet who had embalmed in the amber 
of poetry the daring deeds of ' Marion's Men,' a song which 
has been sung in many a Southern bivouac, and has warmed the 
hearts of soldiers at many a Confederate campfire. He con- 
cluded with the sentiment which would be echoed by every 
guest and by every true heart of the American people, that the 
noble author of Thanatopsis might, ' When his summons came 
to join the innumerable caravan ' of pilgrims from this 
world to the world of spirits, depart ' like one who wraps the 
drapery of his couch about him, and lies down to pleasant 
dreams.' 

" Mr. Bryant responded in a brief but beautiful and touch- 



REAL RECONSTRUCTION 309 

ing address. He modestly waived the compliments that had 
been addressed to him, and thanked the preceding speaker and, 
through him, the assembled guests, for the kind and cordial 
welcome extended to him. Turning from that subject, how- 
ever, he said that in his walks through Charleston he had not 
failed to note how by the silent processes of nature, the wrecks 
and devastations of war were being covered and effaced by 
growths of the fresh spring-time, and he could not help hoping 
and believing that in the same way and by similar inscrutable 
and divine evolutions of the will of Providence, the moral 
wounds of the war would be healed and greened over with 
new, health-giving growths of moral sentiments and impulses, 
which would make the picture fairer than ever it was before 
the rude shocks of war had marred its beauty. He trusted 
and believed that the chivalrous, knightly, generous race which 
had made Southern society what it was in happier days before 
the War, preserved even in its overthrow the vitality which 
would produce from the fallen trunk new shoots of life and 
vigor, which would restore, in more than pristine beauty, the 
fair fabric of the Southern commonwealths. 

" The host next called upon the Hon. J. B. Campbell for a 
sentiment, and he responded in a graceful post-cenitical ad- 
dress, proposing the health of the Hon. Horatio Seymour, 
whose public services he enumerated and whose presence in 
Charleston he warmly welcomed. 

" Gov. Seymour responded to the applause of this senti- 
ment by thanking the ladies and gentlemen for their kindly 
welcome. He made a graceful, appropriate and eloquent ad- 
dress, in which he alluded to the evident signs of returning 
material prosperity observed throughout the Southern States, 
and nowhere in more marked degree than in Charleston; and 
gratefully mentioned the warm welcome and kindly expres- 
sion of esteem which had been given not only to himself, but 
to the hundreds of Northern people who had been sojourners 
in the South during the past few years. The South, he said, 
had now passed through, and was rapidly emerging from, the 
difficulties and embarrassments which had followed in the 



3IO REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

wake of war, and her future promised to be bright and 
glorious, and it remained to be seen whether the South had 
not in the long run, come better out of the conflict than the 
North. There had been less material disaster there imme- 
diately following the War, but its events had kindled a spirit 
of gigantic speculations, unsafe ventures and a perversion of 
business principles to the spirit of gambling on a tremendous 
scale, so that it was painful to contemplate the possible re- 
sult in the next few years. On the whole, he heartily congrat- 
ulated the gentlemen of the South, and especially those of the 
City by the Sea, upon the energy which they had displayed, 
under the most disadvantageous circumstances, and the evi- 
dences of their returning prosperity which were everywhere 
apparent. 

" Col. Lathers next proposed the health of ex-Governor W. 
D. Porter, who responded in an elegant and finished address, 
full of dignity and reverence for the traditions and memories 
of the past and hopeful auguries for the future of the State. 

" The remainder of the evening was pleasantly spent by 
the guests in the interchange of social courtesies, and the party 
repaired to their carriages and their homes at a late hour, 
charmed with the elegant hospitality of their host and hostess, 
and retaining pleasant reciprocal recollections of the Northern 
guests and Southern entertainers." 

I desire to relate, in connection with this reception, an in- 
cident which has an amusing as well as a serious side. 

My friend. Captain Samuel Y. Tupper, the President of 
the Chamber of Commerce, anxious to have the affair a com- 
plete success, as the first of its kind, suggested that it might 
be unwise to invite the Northern Army officers to meet the 
ladies of Charleston, who were not as yet as much recon- 
structed as the gentlemen. He said that while he had much 
confidence in the good breeding of both the Charleston ladies 
and of the Yankee officers, yet he feared that a disagreeable 
coldness might be displayed by the ladies when the introduc- 
tions were made. I thanked him for his thoughtful advice. 



REAL RECONSTRUCTION 311 

but insisted that the Northern officers must not be left out 
if social life in Charleston was to be elevated above the old 
issues which had proved so disastrous to Charleston and to 
the South. 

The General who commanded the post, on receiving the 
cards of invitation for himself and his officers, addressed me 
a polite note of inquiry, precedent to acceptation, asking in 
what garb they would be expected to appear, for he evidently 
had misgivings in common with many of my friends as to the 
United States Army uniform, which had not as yet appeared 
in Charleston parlors. 

On the evening of the reception I requested my old friend 
Col. Edward Thurston, who had served in the Confederate 
Army as one of Gen. Robert E. Lee's aides, and a couple of 
other young Confederate officers of like gallant record to 
help me in receiving and in introducing the guests to one an- 
other, and, as my aides in a social battle, to follow my lead. 
As the guests began to arrive I offered my arm to the first 
lady who appeared, and my aides followed my example with 
the three ladies who came after. After presenting the ladies 
to Mrs. Lathers and to our distinguished guests, who were 
stationed on a raised dais at the upper end of the long picture 
gallery, we turned immediately around and introduced our 
fair partners, without consulting them, and, seemingly, as a 
matter of course, to the brilliantly uniformed Northern offi- 
cers. We soon had every officer introduced to a charming 
Southern lady who found herself en tete-a-tete with a gentle- 
man as well as with a soldier ; and, no time for adverse re- 
flection having been given, good breeding did the rest. In 
point of fact, I found it difficult to induce many of these 
couples to adjourn to the supper room, because they feared 
they might be separated, and more than one of these introduc- 
tions resulted ultimately in marriage. I have always found 
the brave men of either section who were under fire most 
ready to make social concessions in the interests of unity. 
But I must admit that the ladies have not been so easy to 
placate, and I am now satisfied that I ran a great social risk 



312 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

on that occasion. I succeeded only because I made surprise 
the basis of my tactics. 

In the spring of 1874 the News and Courier had occasion 
to chronicle another joyful meeting of Northerners and South- 
erners in my South Battery house. 



" DISTINGUISHED VISITORS 

" The hospitable mansion of Col. Richard Lathers, South 
Battery, was thrown open to a number of distinguished gen- 
tlemen and their families from the North who are making an 
excursion in a palatial Pullman car which they brought with 
them. Among the guests present were A. L. Dennis, Esq., 
President of the New Jersey Railroad Company ; Mrs. Dennis ; 
Moses Taylor, Esq., President of the City Bank, New York; 
Samuel Sloan, Esq., President of the Delaware, Lackawanna 
and Western Railroad Company ; Joshua Bacon, Esq., Chair- 
man of the Finance Committee of the Pennsylvania Railroad 
Company ; Mrs. Bacon and the Misses Bacon ; W. D. Bishop, 
Esq., President of the New York and New Haven Company ; 
Mrs. Bishop ; C. Baylis, Esq., and wife, of New York ; A. Q. 
Keasbey, Esq. and wife of Newark ; Mrs. D. Dodd, of Newark ; 
Albert Rutson, Esq., of England ; and Rev. M. Cohen Stuart. 
D. D., honorable delegate to the Evangelical Alliance of the 
United States from Holland. After a pleasant collation, re- 
marks were made by Messrs. Moses Taylor, Samuel Sloan, 
W. D. Bishop and other gentlemen complimentary to South 
Carolina and the enterprise of the merchants of Charleston, 
and expressing sympathy and fraternal feeling on the part of 
the people of the North for the South. Mayor Perry, of 
Newark, made a happy acknowledgment on behalf of his 
city for the valuable patronage of the South, which he said 
had helped to enrich his community. He expressed a warm 
desire for the establishment of still closer relations with the 
South. The visitors spent a very pleasant hour in social con- 
verse with several leading Charlestonians who had been in- 
vited by Col. Lathers." 



REAL RECONSTRUCTION 313 

Mr. Alfred L. Dennis, the leader of the above party, was 
kind enough to present me with a handsomely-printed account 
of this unique journey by palace car from New York to 
Florida, from which I quote a few extracts herewith : 

" Thursday, February 26th, 1874, at nine a. m., there stood 
upon the rails of the Pennsylvania railroad at Jersey City, a 
miniature dwelling house, capable of accommodating a family 
of twenty-three, ready to receive its occupants and to roll 
away from the Hudson to the St. John — from the wintry 
blasts of the North to the orange groves of Florida. Since 
this is to be an attempt to record the doings of the household 
for the next thirty days, it is well to begin with some descrip- 
tion of the house. Let us look through it before its inmates 
take possession, while it is in the sole charge of Charles W. 
Rowan, major-domo, and Benjamin Harris, cook and bottle- 
washer. 

" It is of the familiar maroon color, and its name is ' Penn- 
sylvania.' It consists of four rooms and a piazza. A kitchen, 
dining room, parlor and ladies' dressing room, with pantries, 
closets, refrigerators, cooking range, hot and cold water, and 
all the appliances of convenience and comfort which can be 
compressed into the space of a large railway car. The dining- 
room can be converted into sleeping apartments. The piazza 
or balcony in the rear is large enough for ten seats. There 
are electric call bells from parlor and dining room to the 
kitchen. And the table can be spread with India china and 
the choicest linen. The wheels are adjustable to any width 
of track, so that it can move over any railroad in the country. 
It is in fact the car of Col. Thomas A. Scott, of the Penn- 
sylvania Railroad, and has been placed at the disposal of Mr. 
Alfred L. Dennis, President of the New Jersey Railroad, for 
an excursion to Florida and back with some friends whom he 
has invited to join himself and Mrs. Dennis in running away 
from the March winds. It was to leave with the morning 
train to Washington. 

" Before it started seven of the family had taken possession 



314 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

of their temporary home. They were Mr. and Mrs. William 
D. Bishop of Bridgeport, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Baylis of 
Brooklyn, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Sloan of New York, and 
Mr. Moses Taylor, also of New York. 

" No stirring incidents of travel are to be recorded in the 
journey across the Newark meadows. At Newark, the house- 
hold was largely increased. Mr. and Mrs. Alfred L. Dennis, 
Mr. and Mrs. Nehemiah Perry, Mr. and Mrs. Martin R. Den- 
nis, Mrs. Daniel Dodd, Mr. and Mrs. A. Q. Keasbey, Mr. 
Thomas T. Kinney, Mr. Samuel S. Dennis, and Mr. Alfred 
L. Dennis, Jr., made up the Jersey part of the family, and so 
with nineteen inmates, besides some friends not yet ready for 
their leave takings, the little Hotel rolled away southward. 
The furious snowstorm of the preceding day had caused 
forebodings of delay, and all were ready to enjoy the bright 
morning and the successful departure. At Philadelphia, the 
household was made complete by the addition of Mr. and Mrs. 
Josiah Bacon and daughters. Miss Helen and Miss Anne 
Bacon. And now the house was full and merry, and the trip 
was fairly begun. The day was devoted to establishing the 
proper relations of intimacy among the various members of 
the family, to discussing plans of travel, and settling down 
into regular habits of locomotion. 

" The marked feature of the day was the first dinner. The 
household was too numerous for the table, and gallantry 
prompted the gentlemen to insist that the ladies should dine 
first, assisted by two gentlemen. But the experiment was 
never repeated. The two gentlemen who devoted themselves 
to the ladies expected to be welcomed to the table of the 
gentlemen after the cloth was removed, to join them in dis- 
cussing the quality of the champagne provided for the trip. 
But they were barred out. In vain they implored admission 
to that festive board. They stood without the closed door, 
and heard the ' sounds of revelry,' and exhausted all their 
arguments and entreaties upon Mr. Sloan, the master of the 
feast. He was obdurate. His jolly companions greeted the 
lamentations of the outsiders with roars of laughter. And 



REAL RECONSTRUCTION 315 

he would occasionally open the door and roll out an empty 
bottle in mockery. The Mayor had no power or process for 
such an emergency, and the chronicler can only avenge him- 
self by recording the incident for the warning of future 
travelers. It had one good effect. It broke up at once the 
pernicious system of dividing the sexes at dinner. There- 
after a table was established in the parlor, and both being 
graced by the presence of the ladies, the meals in the car 
became models of elegance and propriety, and were enjoyed 
with more zest than those of any hotel. And it had another 
good effect. The merriment of that first dinner was so hearty, 
that it put the whole family in the best mood for enjoyment, 
and gave a tone of good humor and pleasant feeling that 
pervaded the entire trip. . . . 

" Thursday, March 5th, was our day in Charleston. It was 
too little for a city of so much interest, but we prepared to 
make good use of the short time allotted to us. Fortunately 
it is a compact city, lying between its two noble rivers, and 
through the kindness of very attentive friends, we were able 
to see it to great advantage. By the courtesy of Gen. Q. A. 
Gilmore, whom we had met at Richmond, we were provided 
with a request to Col. Gilmore, in charge of the U. S. troops 
in Charleston, to furnish us with a Government launch for a 
visit to Fort Sumter. Col. Gilmore called at the Hotel in the 
evening and arranged that our sail across the bay to the fort 
should begin at three o'clock. During breakfast, Col. Richard 
Lathers came and invited the whole party to assemble at his 
house to meet some friends at lunch, which we accepted with 
great pleasure. 

" The morning was occupied in walking and driving about 
the old city, and observing the points made famous in the 
War. At noon we assembled at the beautiful house of Colonel 
Lathers on the Battery, where we were welcomed with great 
cordiality and introduced to a large company of gentlemen 
and ladies who had been invited to meet us. A fine picture 
gallery occupied a large space on the first floor, and in the 
top of the house is a large library well stocked with books 



3i6 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

and engravings, and commanding from two sides noble views 
of the city and harbor. From the balcony we could see Fort 
Sumter, and with a glass could trace the points made memor- 
able during the long siege. Fort Moultrie, Sumter, James 
Island, Fort Johnson and other points whose names were once 
so terribly familiar, lay beneath us, and our intelligent host 
and his friends pointed out to us the scenes of the various 
operations of the War, and talked of its trials and its results, 
without a touch of bitterness and with no remark to awaken 
any unkind remembrances. 

" Soon we assembled in the parlors and found a very hand- 
some entertainment. We were welcomed in a formal speech 
and Mr. Taylor was called on to respond. He appealed to the 
lawyer of our company as our talking man, but that func- 
tionary had evidently left his talking apparatus at home, sup- 
posing he would have no use for it on this trip, and was 
obliged to call on Mr. Sloan and Mr. Bishop, who were quite 
equal to the occasion, as they always are. The Mayor also 
very gracefully spoke of the old relations between his city and 
Charleston, and returned thanks for our cordial entertainment. 
The Editor was called for in vain. He vanished mysteriously 
towards the close of the Mayor's speech and reappeared as 
soon as all danger of speechmaking had passed. The vener- 
able Judge Bryan, of the U. S. District Court, made happy 
compliments to the ladies, and Col. Simons closed with ex- 
pressions of kindness and hospitality on the part of the citi- 
zens of Charleston. It was an occasion of great interest, and 
caused a general feeling that in this social intercourse of the 
educated classes of the North and the South, now so freely 
cultivated, is to be found a most efficient means of restoring 
good feeling, and healing finally the cruel wounds of the 
War." 

During their visit to Charleston, Mr. Taylor and Mr. Sloan 
became interested in the affairs of the South Carolina Railway, 
in which I was then a director, and this interest, which soon 
materalized in the financial support of Mr. Taylor, improved 



REAL RECONSTRUCTION 317 

greatly the credit of the company. Later, however, Mr. 
Taylor became dissatisfied with the management of the road 
and withdrew his support— a loss which hastened its bank- 
ruptcy. 

My Charleston house was honored in this same spring of 
1874 by the presence of another Northern guest, the distin- 
guished Unitarian divine, Dr. Henry W. Bellows. While he 
was in Charleston Dr. Bellows sent me the following letter, 
which I treasure, not only because of my admiration for his 
fine personality, but because of its grateful recognition of the 
beginning of an era of better feeling between the North and 
South : 

" Charleston Hotel, April 15, 1874. 
" To CoL. Lathers, 

" South Battery, Charleston. 

"Dear Sir: — I desire to express in a form more permanent 
than word of mouth, my gratitude for the courtesy shown 
myself and friends by the elegant entertainment given at your 
house yesterday. For such unmerited and unexpected cour- 
tesy, I feel, with my friends, a warm obligation, and trust 
that your excellent endeavor to strengthen the good under- 
standing between citizens from different portions of our com- 
mon country, long unhappily alienated, will be blessed with a 
grand success. It was unspeakably pleasant and touching to 
see the light of returning confidence in faces long averted, 
and to find genial smiles exchanged among those accustomed 
for a time to cold looks from each other. I shall carry home 
a most delightful sense of restored affection, and do my best 
to promote in my turn such heavenly charity and mutual for- 
giveness as I saw exhibited in the distinguished assembly you 
gathered at your hospitable and generous board. . . . 

" With high esteem very cordially your obliged friend and 
servant, 

" Henry W. Bellows." 

Dr. Bellows came to Charleston in the company of two 
ladies of refinement for the advantage of its genial climate. 



3i8 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

The party visited the Battery almost daily and passed hours 
reading there, beneath the trees, in full view of my piazzas. 
Just before leaving for the North the Doctor informed me, 
over his glass of wine, that years before, during his early 
priesthood, he performed in New England the marriage cere- 
mony of the elder lady, now a widow, and that he had recently 
become engaged to the young lady, her daughter, in the de- 
lightful shade of that Battery Park of Charleston, South 
Carolina. " Such," said he, " is life." 

And here I would recall an anecdote of the time of the 
War (illustrative of President Lincoln's patience under re- 
proof), in which Dr. Bellows played a part. As soon as the 
Sanitary Commission was organized, Dr. Bellows was ap- 
pointed its chairman. The duties of this office necessitated 
frequent interviews with the Secretary of War and with the 
President. Dr. Bellows' enthusiasm and courtly manners 
quickly won over the President, and they came to have very 
confidential relations with each other. By reason of his ardent 
desire for the success of the War and his interest in the repu- 
tation of the President, the Doctor expressed such favorable 
opinions of the latter's administration that he grew to long 
for his visits as a relief from the annoying criticisms of 
Greeley and his followers. In due time, however, the Doctor 
discovered spots on the sun, and set about to efface them 
with injudicious though friendly zeal. 

The President, as everyone knows, pardoned deserters from 
the army who had been condemned to death by court-martial 
so frequently that he became a bar to military discipline. This 
troubled the good Doctor. Accordingly he broached with 
great suavity one day the disagreeable subject of the un- 
favorable comments of the press, and tenderly pointed out the 
danger of giving way to sympathy so far as to obstruct mili- 
tary discipline in time of war. The President, after listening 
with seeming interest, as was his kindly habit, said, " Well, 
Doctor, I have heard your able opinion on the duties of an 
Executive. Would you not like to run the machine your- 
self?" This interview was related to me by Major Opdycke, 



REAL RECONSTRUCTION 319 

who witnessed it, while I was waiting in an adjoining room 
for an interview with the President. 

The continuance of frauds and misrule in South Carolina, 
in spite of the protests of the Taxpayers' Convention of 1871, 
made it appear desirable, in 1874, to convene the Taxpayers' 
Convention again. I went to Washington and laid the griev- 
ances of the taxpayers before prominent senators and rep- 
resentatives, the Cabinet, and President Grant, with a view 
to engaging their sympathy — an object which I found more 
easily realized with the members of the East and the North 
than with those of the West. The President encouraged the 
movement, remarking that he had observed that my course in 
the former Convention of 1871 was strictly non-partisan and 
that he wished to discountenance everything like fraud or 
partisan action on the part of the Federal officeholders. 
Senator Sumner sent for me during my stay in Washington 
to obtain, as he said, an exact statement of the carpet-bag rule 
in South Carolina. In fact, I spent the last Sunday of his 
life with him in his sick-chamber. I found his rooms filled 
with rare engravings, of which he was justly proud. He 
seemed to be much moved by the frauds and misrule practiced 
by the negroes and white adventurers, and promised to do all 
that he could for the white sufferers. As a staunch anti-slavery 
advocate he had resented the domination of white masters over 
the negro race, but he now equally resented the oppressive and 
dishonest negro rule over the white race. He explained that he 
had opposed the entrance of the Rebel States into the Union 
without disciplinary legislation, because he had feared that real 
slavery of the negroes would exist within nominal freedom un- 
less the freedmen could protect themselves by the use of the 
ballot : and he had been opposed to conferring unlimited suf- 
frage on such an ignorant class. He would have had the suf- 
frage extended to the negroes under an educational qualification 
hke that to which white men were subjected in Massachusetts. 

The rest of his remarks were of great interest, but I feel in 
honor bound to hold them as confidential. In leaving his 
room, I said, after expressing my gratification for his cor- 



320 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

diality, that, were it not for the impropriety of publishing a 
private interview, it would afford me great pleasure and my 
Southern friends great satisfaction if I could tell them fully 
of the sentiments expressed by so distinguished a Northern 
statesman in favor of refonn at the South. He promptly re- 
plied, '' If that is your opinion, on your return to Charleston 
address me a letter on the subject and I shall be happy to 
reply to it." I wrote Senator Sumner such a letter as he 
suggested, but it reached Washington the very day he died. 

The second Taxpayers' Convention assembled at Columbia, 
February 17, 1874, and continued in session three days, under 
the Presidency of Hon. W. D. Porter. 

After deliberating on various subjects of public interest, the 
Convention adopted an Address to the States, recommending 
the organization of Taxpayers' Unions, an Address to the 
People of South Carolina, and the following Resolution, of 
which I was the author : 

" Resolved, That a Committee of fifteen be appointed by the 
Chair, to proceed to Washington and present to the President 
the ' Address ' prepared, on behalf of the people of this State, 
to the people of the United States, and request him to lay the 
same before Congress." 

On presenting this resolution to the Convention I de- 
livered an address upon the evils of carpet-bag and negro 
rule, not a single statement of which was ever contro- 
verted, although it was given a wide publicity. I re- 
peated the same statements in substantially the same form 
before President Grant and the Joint Committee of Congress 
appointed to investigate the matter. My visit to Washington 
is described in a letter to D. J. Curtis of Boston, which I wrote 
on my return to Charleston : 

" Ch.^rleston, S. C, April 18, 1874. 
" D. J. Curtis, Esq., Banker, Boston, Mass. 

" My Dear Sir: — I have read with very great pleasure your 
thoughtful and sympathetic letter, and have taken the liberty 
of letting other gentlemen here have the advantage of know- 



REAL RECONSTRUCTION 321 

ing how educated and liberal Massachusetts now feels on sub- 
jects so grave as the decadence of public morals, and the 
capacity of representatives. Your remarks are strikingly true 
as to the undue merit accorded to Mr. Sumner's honesty, 
but, in a picture of low tone, lights are agreeable by contrast 
even if the objects made conspicuous are commonplace ; and 
I assure you that the South has been so robbed and ill-treated 
that common honesty and the smallest sympathy are lights in 
the gloomy picture. And thus you find as hard a Copperhead 
as myself uttering paeans to Greeley and Sumner, to whom a 
few years ago I was inimical in the highest degree. Such is 
life with a truce to consistency. 

" Perhaps I may bore you with a short account of our inter- 
view with Grant. I will remark in passing that our delegation 
embraced four ex-governors, several ex-senators, generals, 
bankers, and merchants of distinction, all men of liberal edu- 
cation, except myself, and of high social position. Members 
of the Society of the Cincinnati and three of the sons or grand- 
sons of the delegates whom the Charleston Chamber of Com- 
merce had appointed to receive Gen. Washington in Charleston 
during the first Presidency were among the number. I had 
prepared my address referring to this, as an implied compli- 
ment to the present President, and had dug out of obscurity 
the only sensible state paper Grant had ever produced. The 
opposition Committee representing the carpet-baggers and 
negroes was headed by Whittemore, who was expelled from 
Congress for selling cadetships, and a State Senator who had 
just been arrested, shut up in the police lock-up of Washing- 
ton, and fined $50 for participation in a drunken brawl. One 
of the colored Senators on this Committee had been tried for 
ballot-box stuffing and escaped by a technicality, his coadju- 
tors having been convicted. Indeed, the whole body, with few 
exceptions, was more or less tainted with frauds or misrule. 
Their sole plea in answer to my speech to the President and 
the Committee of Congress was one of mitigation, alleging 
that the frauds were exaggerated or that Southern white men 
had refused to co-operate with them, etc., etc. In other words 



322 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

we had charged them with stealing twenty-five spoons, having 
caught them in the butler's pantry in the very act. They, 
however, plead that we are liars, as they stole but twenty 
spoons, and that they would not have stolen any had we con- 
sented to associate with them in the kitchen. This argument 
seemed to be cogent in the estimation of the President, and, 
perhaps, his associations confirm the philosophy. 

" But to the interview. At our arrival in Washington, 
Governor Aiken, Gov. Manning, Gen. Simons and myself, 
called on Secretary Fish, and, after a pleasant interview and 
a communication with the President, the next day at eleven 
o'clock was fixed for a formal introduction. Gov. Porter and 
myself were appointed to address the President after the in- 
troduction of the whole Committee by the Secretary of State. 
A few minutes before we were admitted to the audience, 
a carpet-bagger from Pennsylvania, whose election to the 
Senate from South Carolina was one of the outrages com- 
plained of by me and who had been arrested upon a charge of 
corruption in procuring his seat, was seen to leave the room 
where he had read to the President the speech [an inflamma- 
tory speech by Gen. Gary at the Taxpayers' Convention] you 
have heard of. After the introduction by Mr. Fish, Mr. 
Porter, in a most respectful manner and in pathetic language, 
set forth the fraud and misrule which the taxpayers of the 
State invoked Congress to redress, and appealed to the Presi- 
dent to use his influence in behalf of the people who, in their 
extremity, as American citizens, looked to him, the Executive 
of our country, for sympathy. The President, standing with 
one foot on a chair, balancing himself and occasionally inter- 
rupting the speaker with tart reproaches, finally broke out in a 
most abusive manner and turned the interview into a personal 
grievance of his own. He said that even the N. Y. Snn had 
not been so vile in its personalities. At this point I stepped 
forward to read my address, desiring to avoid the danger of 
my own temper under such treatment if I delivered it in my 
usual manner. The President listened a few moments till I 
got to that part which charges that the election of the first 



REAL RECONSTRUCTION 323 

carpet-bagger, Gov. Scott, was procured by the use of $300,000 
of the money of the Freedmen's Bureau, when he repHed that 
if I knew this I ought to testify to the fact before the Com- 
mittee now investigating the charges against General Howard 
on that topic. I replied, ' I do not make the charge. I have the 
honor of reading from a report of a Congressional Committee 
No. 121 of the 42nd Congress.' After replying that he did not 
believe the charge, he permitted me to go on till I came to 
other charges against the action of the Freedmen's Bureau 
in South Carolina, to the effect that the agents of that organ- 
ization were sowing dissension between the races by advising 
the negroes to look for a division of their late masters' prop- 
erty. He then stopped me again with some dissenting ques- 
tion, to which I replied, ' I do not cite these facts of my own 
knowledge, but I have the honor, Mr. President, of reading 
to you your admirable report to President Johnson when you 
were Lieutenant-General.' The truth was that he was so 
angry that he had not heard my preface to the report I was 
reading, and supposed the statements of his own report were 
my allegations. After other interruptions, to which I answered 
courteously, I closed my address and the delegation retired. 
I remained behind and approaching the President said, ' Mr. 
President, I am pained and mortified by this unfortunate inter- 
view, because I perceive I have certainly misrepresented you, 
having on my return from Washington, after my pleasant talk 
with you some time ago, represented you as in full sympathy 
with the non-partisan effort I was initiating against fraud and 
misrule in South Carolina.' He replied, ' How could you 
hear that infamous speech in your Convention, and not re- 
buke it ? ' I remarked, ' Mr. President, I was not in the Con- 
vention when that speech was made. I had retired fatigued 
by the delivery of my opening speech of nearly two hours, 
but I can assure you that not one member of the Convention 
who heard it, had any sympathy with it. On the contrary, it 
was wholly against the object of the Convention and the 
Resolutions under which our deliberations were held. And 
such was the temper of the Convention, that the report was 



324 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

remanded back to be purged of everything, personal or politi- 
cal ; a course which had not become necessary in any other 
case during our sittings.' He then asked me who made the 
speech. For the moment the name escaped me, and he sug- 
gested Wade Hampton. To which I replied, ' General Hamp- 
ton was not a member of the Convention.' And then, as I re- 
called Gen. Gary's name, he asked me who he was. I replied 
that he was a gallant but eccentric man, whose record for brav- 
ery during the War gave him a degree of local popularity which 
put him into the Convention, but I knew that the Convention 
had no sympathy with his speech. Indeed, so little attention 
had it received, that I had never heard it mentioned except 
the day it was made, when everyone regretted its personal 
language, and it would never have seen the light if some evil- 
disposed person had not published it to defeat the object of 
the Convention. ]\Ir. Fish came up to us at this moment and 
remarked that he had not seen it before either. I then bowed 
myself out. Later I met Gen. Babcock in the Club, and ex- 
plained the matter to him. He remarked that the President 
was entirely satisfied with my explanation. Mr. Fish subse- 
quently invited a few of us to a very elegant dinner party, and 
I am sure Mr. Fish was more disconcerted by the President's 
bad manners than we were. Speaker Blaine put his private 
room at our disposal during our entire stay at the Capital, and 
the Vice-Presidents actual and pro-tem and all the leading 
Cabinet officers and members of Congress treated us with 
marked attention. Even Butler was no exception, but, of 
course, I could not bring myself to call on him, liberal as I 
am on such occasions. 

" Hoping you will excuse this rambling account of our mis- 
sion to Washington, 

" I am, 

" Yours truly, 

" Richard Lathers." 

In spite of this cavalier treatment of our delegation by 
President Grant, our efforts finally resulted in the expulsion 



REAL RECONSTRUCTION 325 

of the carpet-bag thieves from South Carolina, and the ac- 
quirement by the citizens of their Constitutional rights. This 
was the real reconstruction ; the so-called reconstruction of 
the years immediately succeeding the War having been in 
reality more destructive than constructive. 

jMy visit to Washington as a bearer of the message of the 
Taxpayers' Convention occurred in the early spring. The 
following June I was made an honorary member of the Alumni 
Association of Williams College, and delivered an address at 
the Williams Alumni Banquet on " State Rights as Opposed to 
State Sovereignty." The Charleston News and Courier a few 
days later published an editorial comment on this address 
which I quote here with a certain satisfaction, I confess, be- 
cause this paper had been extremely bitter in its attacks upon 
me at the beginning of the War: 

" Col. Lathers continues to be both industrious and zealous 
in exposing the wrongs of the honest citizens of South Caro- 
lina. Last week he delivered an address on the condition of 
affairs in South Carolina, at the Williams College commence- 
ment, in Williamstown, Mass., and was immediately thereafter 
elected a member of the Alumni Association of the college, 
which he accepted, he said, as paid to his native State — South 
Carolina. Thanks to his efforts, the press and the leading 
public men of New England know what our position is and 
what is the cause of our troubles. They are in sympathy with 
us. and that sympathy will be shown actively in due season. 
Col. Lathers has been suggested, by influential newspapers, as 
a proper person to fill either of two seats in Congress ; that of 
Mr. Porter of New York, or that of Mr. Dawes of Massa- 
chusetts. If so wise a nomination be made, and Col. Lathers 
should consent to run, the people of the South, and especially 
the people of South Carolina, may count on having in him, 
when elected, a staunch defender of their rights, an able and 
indefatigable exponent of their wrongs, and a consistent cham- 
pion of constitutional principles and free institutions." 



CHAPTER XI 

BERKSHIRE HOSPITALITY 

In July, 1874, I gave up my Charleston residence in favor of 
my country place at Pittsfield, to which I have already made 
a casual reference. 

Seven years earlier, in passing through Pittsfield en route 
to the White Mountains, I had stopped over at Arrowhead, 
a summer residence of my brother-in-law, Allan Melville, and 
had been so struck with the beauty of the scenery and the 
salubrity of the climate that I had purchased nine small farms 
and made them into an estate which I called Abby Lodge, 
after the Christian name of my wife. It was situated close 
by a cottage which had formerly been occupied by Oliver 
Wendell Holmes. It was bounded on the east by Washing- 
ton Mountain, and was divided into two nearly equal parts by 
the Housatonic River. Its meadows were adorned with fine, 
spreading elms (the glory of Berkshire), and its hills with 
orchards and maple groves. One of the farmhouses, which 
stood on a hillside above the Housatonic Valley, with views 
including both the mountains of New York and those of Ver- 
mont, I had enlarged into a sort of Italian villa by adding 
several wings ; and these additions made it appear quite im- 
posing to a person viewing it from the railway which ran 
through the property several hundred feet away and a hundred 
feet lower down. 

On the occasion of my definite removal from Charleston to 
Pittsfield the Springfield Republican published a highly com- 
plimentary article which I quote, not for the compliments it 
contains, but because it gives a better description of Abby 
Lodge than I could give myself: 

" Pittsfield is fortunate in securing as a permanent resident 

326 



BERKSHIRE HOSPITALITY 327 

Col. Richard Lathers, who is making his picturesque little 
residence the repository of more valuable curiosities in litera- 
ture and art than can often be found in a private house in this 
country. Abby Lodge, two miles from town on the east road 
to Lenox, stands just opposite the old Melville place, on the 
ground once occupied by J. W. Lull's farm-house, command- 
ing a lovely view of the eastern Housatonic valley and the 
mountains on three sides. For six years Col. Lathers has 
found his summer home here, and, each season, has done more 
or less work on the hundreds of acres which his various pur- 
chases include, such as underdraining, cultivating, grading and 
terracing about the house, adding to and improving the build- 
ings, until, to-day, the residence is one of the completest and 
most beautiful in all the region. A spacious open porch, 
separating the new music room from the main part of the 
house, adds an indescribable charm to the place, while another 
open-air feature of the house is the way in which the sashes 
and blinds of the wide eastern windows mysteriously disap- 
pear, revealing patches of lovely mountain view, apparently set 
in neat frames and matching the other pictures on the walls. 
These landscapes Mr. Lathers calls his original ' old masters ' 
and is having them sketched. Most of the paintings, engrav- 
ings, books and other treasures which fill the house have been 
brought from the other summer residence in New Rochelle, 
N. Y., which has been given up for Pittsfield, and now another 
addition is building, containing a gallery to receive the most 
valuable of the Colonel's paintings, which are now at his house 
in Charleston, "S. C. They will be brought to Pittsfield in the 
spring, Mr. Lathers having disposed also of his Southern 
home. It would take long to enumerate half the rare treasures 
which the genial proprietor of this pleasant abode has gathered 
from all parts of the world. He is an especial lover of old 
engravings, and, among other rare pieces, has one of Rey- 
nolds' portraits of Edmund Burke, the only other copy in the 
country having been in the collection of Charles Sumner. 
Mr. Lathers visited Mr. Sumner a short time before the lat- 
ter's death, when each of them was surprised to learn that 



328 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

the other owned a copy of this engraving. Mr. Sumner prom- 
ised to stop at Pittsfield to see his friend's collections when 
they should be arranged, but died too soon for the fulfillment 
of the promise. Another large engraving, loo years old, is 
that of the golden palace of Nero. Then there are piles of 
huge volumes of engravings representing all the principal 
pictures of the different public and private galleries of Europe, 
as well as engravings and photographs of all the important 
buildings and objects of interest throughout that continent. 
Among the literary treasures, perhaps the rarest is a copy 
of the book of Esther on a roll of thick leather, written in 
Hebrew, 600 years ago, before the time of printing that lan- 
guage. Other curiosities in the same line are the Breeches 
Bible, printed in 1599, Raphael's Bible with every principal 
incident pictured by that artist, and a copy of the fourth edi- 
tion of Shakespeare. In a corner of the drawing room stands 
a porcelain table made at the Sevres factory for Louis Philippe, 
and containing the pictures of Louis XVI. and his court beau- 
ties, burnt in. This was sold in Paris for 2,500 francs, at the 
time of the disposal of Louis Philippe's effects. In addition 
to these and a thousand other rarities which fill every table and 
shelf and meet the eye at every turn. Col. Lathers has just 
put in the elegant new music room an orchestrion, made in 
the ' Black Forest ' region of Germany, at a cost of $5,000. 
The walls of the music room are hung thick with choice paint- 
ings, and on one side stands a French cabinet of the most 
exquisite inlaid work, which with the mirror cost $3,000." 

One of my nearest neighbors at Pittsfield was Herman Mel- 
ville, author of the interesting and very original sea tales, 
" Typee " and " Omoo " (which were among the first books to 
be published simultaneously in London and New York), and of 
various other volumes of prose and verse. I visited him often 
in his well-stocked library, where I listened with intense pleas- 
ure to his highly individual views of society and politics. He 
always provided a bountiful supply of good cider — the product 
of his own orchard — and of tobacco, in the virtues of which 
he was a firm believer. Indeed, he prided himself on the in- 



BERKSHIRE HOSPITALITY 329 

scription painted over his capacious fireplace. " I and my 
chimney smoke together," an inscription which I have seen 
strikingly verified more than once when the atmosphere was 
heavy and the wind was east. 

Being about halfway between Pittsfield and Lenox, Abby 
Lodge was a convenient stopping place for my numerous 
friends in both villages, and for the friends of my friends ; 
and was, besides, by reason of its easy accessibility and won- 
derful views, a sort of show place for strangers. 

I was standing one day on the east piazza with a visitor, 
whom I will not name, and, vain of my surroundings, was 
pointing out the various objects of interest. " That," said I, 
" is Monument Mountain, situated in the State of New York ; 
those mountains to the north are in Vermont ; that lovely 
group twenty-five miles distant is called Saddleback." I 
paused to note the effect of my words upon my companion. 
But he was looking fixedly down upon a little stream at the 
bottom of the terrace and gave no sign of having heard any- 
thing I had said. " There," he exclaimed, his eyes sparkling, 
" is the most luxuriant bed of mint I have ever seen." And, 
indeed, many a glass of delicious mint julep for which that 
bed furnished the mint was drunk as a pledge of goodfellow- 
ship on the broad piazza of Abby Lodge, in those days, by 
earnest, double-dyed Abolitionists and Dis-Union slaveholders 
whom the War had taught a proper toleration for one another's 
weaknesses and a proper respect for one another's virtues. 

One day as David Dudley Field, his brother. Rev. Dr. 
Henry M. Field, and his daughter and son-in-law (Lady and 
Sir Anthony Musgrave) were taking their carriages, after a 
visit at Abby Lodge, an old farmer, one of my neighbors, who 
chanced to be calling on a matter of business, said, with typical 
rustic bluntness, "Is that Dudley Field in that carriage?" 
"Yes," I answered; "do you know him?" "Know him?" 
said the farmer, " Well, I should think so. He and I have 
often driven the cows to pasture in his father's fields bare- 
footed, and the old man preached to us Sundays." 

A good many years later, while I was in Williamstown with 



330 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

Mr. Field for an Alumni meeting, he invited me to go with 
him to the students' quarters. He ran up four flights of 
stairs just like a boy and knocking at one of the doors in- 
formed a couple of young students that he had called to see 
the room he had occupied a good fifty years before. It was 
difficult for them to believe that the youthful-looking man 
before them was a graduate of over half a century. 

But to return to Abby Lodge. Among my acquaintances in 
Berkshire who were frequent visitors at my house were Sena- 
tor Dawes, Judge and Thomas Colt, Joseph E. A. Smith, 
Allan Melville, Rev. Dr. Todd, Hon. E. H. Kellogg, Hon. 
Thomas Allen, Edward Learned, Judge Rockwell, John Ker- 
nochan, Gen. Bartlett, Col. Robert Pomeroy, and last but not 
least, Mrs. Morewood, the charming and cultivated wife of 
Mr. J. R. Morewood of Broadhall, who established a kind of 
salon for the literary residents of Berkshire and the visiting 
authors. Mrs. Morewood's patriotic energy in fitting out the 
soldiers who volunteered in defense of the Union, and in other- 
wise caring for them, so endeared her to every officer and 
private that she was buried with the honors of war, and her 
tomb in the cemetery is annually decorated at the same time as 
the graves of the soldiers who loved her. 

Alas, nearly all these Berkshire friends are now dead, as 
I found on a recent visit to Pittsfield ! 

In addition to the almost daily assemblages on the piazza, 
for which mint julep, tea (if there were ladies), and cigars 
were all the entertainment ordinarily provided, my family 
was in the habit of giving dinner parties and receptions to 
their friends in North and South Adams, Great Barrington, 
Lenox, Springfield, Lee, Stockbridge, and Williamstown. 

One of these receptions, given in honor of the distinguished 
War -Governor, Curtin of Pennsylvania, and Mrs. Curtin, 
brought about an amusing incident. On the day appointed 
for this reception, the Court at Pittsfield was opened in due 
form by either Judge Devens (subsequently Attorney-general 
of the United States) or Chief Justice Morton — I cannot now 
recall which. 



BERKSHIRE HOSPITALITY 331 

The first case on the calendar being read and the plaintiff's 
name being called, his counsel rose and requested his Honor 
to postpone the hearing till the next day as he had an im- 
portant engagement out of town. The second case was called, 
but the plaintiff's attorney requested a postponement because 
he had not fully conferred with his client. The Judge then 
called up the third case, but a third attorney asked a post- 
ponement. This appeared to exhaust the patience of his 
Honor, who stopped the proceedings, saying, " Gentlemen, this 
farce has gone far enough. The fact is, the Court and, I be- 
lieve, the whole Bar, have received invitations to a reception at 
Abby Lodge, and as the Court feels incompetent to administer 
justice for the State without its counselors, the Court, there- 
fore, is hereby adjourned till the usual hour to-morrow ; and, 
Mr. Sheriff, you will procure two or three carriages for us 
and we will a'.l attend this rural fete and enjoy a little 
recreation." 

This is, so far as I know, the only instance on record of the 
adjournment of a Court for the sake of a social function. 

Among the guests invited to this fete (most of whom were 
present, as the weather was fine), were: Edward Learned, 
John Kernochan, Frank Kernochan, Editor Samuel Bowles, 
Col. Thompson, Hon. Mr. Chapin, Editor Harding, Editor 
Allen, Bishop Paddock, Bishop Lynch (Roman Catholic) of 
South Carolina, Rev. Mr. McGlathery, Rev. Dr. Todd, Hon. 
David Dudley Field, Hon. Samuel J. Randall, Lord Musgrave 
(Governor of Jamaica), Rev. Dr. Field, Rev. Dr. Pinckney of 
South Carolina, Hon. Ensign H. Kellogg, Allan Melville, 
Wellington Smith, Hon. Thomas Allen, Judge Colt, Thomas 
Colt, Col. Pomeroy, Gen. Bartlett, Col. Cutting, Hon. Byron 
Weston, Frank and James Hinsdale, James D. Crane, D. 
Marshall Crane, Judge Rockwell, Senator Dawes, Hon. W. 
H. Plunkett, J. Rowland Morewood, Col. Auchmuty, Editor 
Jos. E. A. Smith, Theodore Pomeroy, Rev. Moses D. Hoge, 
D. D., of Richmond, Va., W. S. Blackington, and Judge 
Robinson. 

During my residence in Berkshire I had the good fortune 



332 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

to become intimate with Samuel Bowles, of the Springfield 
Republican. Mr. Bowles, although tolerant of the weaknesses 
and even of the graver defects of his friends, as private in- 
dividuals, never hesitated to give honestly his opinion of their 
public acts ; and his friends learned to take in good part his 
castigation of their attempts, as politicians, to carry water on 
both shoulders. His earnest Republicanism was largely modi- 
fied by his fine discrimination ; and his editorials, which 
abounded in practical and forcible illustrations, bore a striking 
resemblance to those of Benjamin Franklin. He had a tender 
vein in his make-up, and his love of nature and of poetry was 
so strong as almost to seem incompatible with his duties as a 
controversial journalist. I recall with much pleasure the many 
rambles we took together in the country on pleasant Sunday 
mornings, when his talk was always in perfect harmony with 
the beauty of our surroundings. Mr. Bowles, Chester W. 
Chapin (the Railway King of New England), and myself 
usually contrived to be at Saratoga at the same time, and passed 
many hours together there discussing politics, finance, and 
economics. 

Mr. Bowles was a reformer of the highest type — a reformer 
and not a revolutionist. He was an energetic Union man dur- 
ing the War, but after the War, the Union having been saved, 
he stoutly defended the rights of the South against the policy 
of his own party. " It has principles," he wrote of his journal ; 
" but they are above mere party success, and to these prin- 
ciples it will devote itself. Whenever and wherever the suc- 
cess of men or of parties can advance these principles and 
purposes the Republican will boldly advocate such success. 
Whenever men and parties are blind to the triumph of these 
principles, they will be as boldly opposed and denounced." 

The Republican was among the first papers to take the field 
against the abuses of Grant's Administration, and it advocated 
the election of Horace Greeley, although Mr. Bowles' first 
choice for that position (and for any and every high office 
for that matter) was Charles Francis Adams, for whom he had 
a great and just admiration. Mr. Bowles having chaffed me 



BERKSHIRE HOSPITALITY 333 

one day for giving the Buffalo press a speech for publication 
in advance of delivery and then delivering quite another for 
the sake of complimenting Ex-President Fillmore, I retorted 
that I was merely loyal to my friend, Mr. Fillmore, as he was 
loyal to his friend, Mr. Adams. " I have recently read in a 
Western paper," I added, " a remarkable proof of this loyalty 
of yours to Mr. Adams." I then quoted the following: " Our 
brother Bowles is a hard-working editor and his Saturday night 
duties largely deprive him of his proper rest. Consequently, 
he not infrequently makes up for his lost sleep by taking a 
nap in church on Sunday. On one such occasion, the minister 
preached a sermon on the Last Judgment in which he presented 
the terrors of the Day of Doom most graphically, closing with 
this vociferous interrogation : ' Who will be able to stand in 
that great day?' This appeal aroused the sleeping editor, 
who, after rubbing his eyes, arose with great deliberation and 
in a most emphatic tone replied: 'Charles Francis Adams! 
And I nominate him for the position ! ! ! ' " 

Mr. Bowles laughed heartily at the story, but said that he 
had not seen it in any of his exchanges. 



/ 



CHAPTER XII 

AGRICULTURE AND POLITICS 

In October, 1875, I delivered an address on " Agriculture " be- 
fore the Deerfield Agricultural Society, most of the members of 
which were intelligent farmers. I called attention to the 
venerableness and honorableness of farming, made an appeal 
for a general system of agricultural instruction, and advocated 
smaller farms, intensive cultivation, and the use of artificial 
manures. Although some of my hearers took exception to my 
advocacy of artificial manures, my farming talk was very well 
received on the whole, because it was evident that what I said 
was based on my own experience as a practical farmer. Dur- 
ing all the time I was President of the Great Western, I had 
set apart one day each week as " a day in the country." For 
a great many years I had sent large quantities of hay from my 
New Rochelle estate into the New York Hay Market, on Third 
Avenue near the Bull's Head Tavern ; and for nearly a de- 
cade I had worked the nine farms constituting Abby Lodge, 
selling a considerable amount of hay, rye, straw, cider, and 
potatoes in Pittsfield and Lenox, and sending a carload of milk 
twice a week to New York City from my dairy, for which I had 
imported Aldemey cattle. 

In 1879 I spoke on " Journalism and Journalists " before 
the editors and reporters of Berkshire County. This talk was 
necessarily more theoretical than my talk on farming, since 
I did not have a fund of practical experience to draw upon. 
But my intimate association with journalists had given me a 
pretty fair understanding of their trade and of their point 
of view. 

In the presidential campaign of 1876 I spoke frequently 
in behalf of the Tilden and Hendricks ticket, particularly in 
the Berkshire district. 

334 



AGRICULTURE AND POLITICS 335 

I became acquainted with Mr. Tilden a number of years 
after coming to New York from the South, and I met him 
often during a long period at political gatherings of more or 
less importance, in which he was generally the most prominent 
figure and the most influential adviser. He was not only a 
shrewd business man and a lawyer of great ability, but a lover 
of literature and art, a classical scholar, and a student of science. 
His fine library of rare and standard books was not a collec- 
tion got together merely for display. That he made good use 
of his books the broad range and high character of his speeches 
and writings afford ample proof. 

His ornate residence was located within a block of that of 
my mother-in-law at No. 7 Bond Street, where I made my home 
on the frequent occasions when I was detained in the city over 
night by social or political engagements. On one of these oc- 
casions Mr. Tilden accompanied me to my door, as it lay on 
his way. He was in the midst of one of his most attractive 
disquisitions on government as I rang the bell, but he declined 
to go into the house, because it was late, and continued to en- 
large upon his theme, holding my hand, a habit he had when he 
was talking earnestly. We remained there nearly half an hour 
exposed to a cold, bleak wind, which caused both speaker and 
listener to wake up with a severe attack of influenza the next 
morning. 

One summer, at Saratoga, I often sat with Mr. Tilden at 
table in the dining room of the United States Hotel. This at- 
tracted the attention of the newspaper reporters, who, of course, 
were unwilling to believe that I was unable to give them any 
valuable personal information about Mr. Tilden. To prove to 
them my reticence regarding any subject that could be of 
interest to them as journalists, I gave them, one day, an exact 
reproduction of our conversation. 

This conversation included innumerable details as to the value 
of our corn crop, various observations on the great advantage 
it would be to our country if we could induce foreign countries 
to utilize our enormous agricultural production in feeding their 
half-starving populace, and last, but by no means least, a re- 



336 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

ceipt for making cornbread. Of course the gentlemen of the 
press shut up their notebooks quite disgusted, and left me. 
Later, a couple of female reporters begged me to introduce 
them to Mr. Tilden, for whom they professed great admiration. 
To this I readily assented. The next day they called on me 
to say that my friend, instead of imparting information regard- 
ing public affairs, talked only of social abstractions, and kept 
the hand of one of them, to her great annoyance, during the 
entire interview. I comforted this lady by saying that this 
habit of Mr. Tilden's had no connection with gallantry, since 
he was accustomed to keep my hand in the same manner when 
engaged in earnest conversation with me. 

I recall with great vividness being at the residence of J\Ir. 
Tilden with Wilson G. Hunt, John T. Agnew and several others 
when a telegram was received from Mr. Hewitt, then at Wash- 
ington, announcing that a compromise agreement had been 
made to submit the question of the electoral vote to an ex-officio 
commission. 

Mr. Tilden, on reading the telegram, remarked to the com- 
pany in his customary non-committal way, " I have not been 
consulted in this matter." After a pause, he added, " I do 
not approve of this unconstitutional manner of disposing of the 
suffrages of the people of this country. Yet I am not dis- 
posed to hazard the peace of the country by prolonging this 
partisan contest in my own interest as a candidate." 

The truth is, Mr. Tilden was a man of the purest character, 
and a most disinterested patriot. It is well known that some 
of his over-ardent political friends began a serious negotiation 
with a noted carpet-bag leader of South Carolina for the pur- 
chase of a portion of the electoral vote of that State, excusing 
themselves by saying that they were only fighting the Devil 
with fire. Mr. Tilden sternly rebuked the negotiations as soon 
as they came to his knowledge, firmly declining to countenance 
such a transaction in any form or under any pretext; and the 
carpet-bagger who had come to New York for this dishonorable 
purpose went back to South Carolina sadly disappointed. 

Another Presidential candidate in this strangely complicated 



AGRICULTURE AND POLITICS 337 

political campaign of 1876 was Peter Cooper, a man of great 
force of character and of many talents, who will be longest 
remembered for his wise philanthropies. I chanced to be call- 
ing on him one day soon after his nomination when a ward 
committee paid him a visit, nominally to congratulate him but 
really to inform him that funds would be needed in their ward. 
Mr. Cooper promptly told them that he was averse to con- 
tributing money to influence voters, but that he had had a large 
quantity of Greenback arguments printed for his supporters to 
distribute ; and he straightway produced a pile of pamphlets 
with which he filled their pockets. I remained with Mr. Cooper 
a few moments after the departure of the ward committee, and 
when I went out I found his pamphlets strewn broadcast over 
the sidewalks. 

I recall here an anecdote which Mr. Cooper loved to relate 
of his early ventures in railroading in New Jersey. He had 
constructed a locomotive in which he had great faith, and 
wishing to get it before the public he invited a large number 
of persons to witness its speed. To this meeting came an old 
farmer who was verj' outspoken in his criticisms of the new- 
fangled machine, and who offered to bet ten dollars that with 
his old mare harnessed into his buggy he would reach the next 
village, ten miles distant, before the locomotive. The bet was 
taken up and the race began. The mare was soon distanced 
by the locomotive, but at the end of the first mile the locomo- 
tive broke down. While it was being repaired, the mare over- 
took and passed it. The locomotive started again, and again 
distanced the mare, but again it broke down, and again the 
mare overtook and passed it. This happened so many times 
that the mare won the race by nearly a mile, to the great joy of 
the old farmer, the great mortification of Mr. Cooper, and the 
great amusement of all the spectators. 

And now that I am gossiping about political candidates, it 
would seem to be as good a time as any to introduce my own 
solitary political venture. 

In the summer of 1877 I was solicited by friends in both 
political parties to permit my name to be used as a candidate 



338 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

for the State Senate, to represent the counties of Rockland, 
Putnam, Westchester, and the two lower wards of the City of 
New York. While I was flattered naturally by this request, 
I refused at first to accede to it. I had been somewhat active, 
it is true, for over thirty years in public affairs in South Caro- 
lina, Massachusetts, and New York (especially in Westchester 
County), and had been a delegate to several political conven- 
tions; but, having a repugnance to holding office, I had uni- 
formly declined to consider any of the candidacies, local. State, 
and congressional, regarding which I had been approached in 
both the South and the North. I saw no reason for incurring 
the expense and enduring the turmoil of a political canvass 
for an office for which I did not really care. I realized that 
my fixed ideas of public policy and my independence of the 
canal, railroad, and other corrupt rings of the State would 
render me very unpopular with a large element in both parties. 
I was unwilling, furthermore, to antagonize my friend Judge 
Robertson, who had filled the position acceptably for many 
years. 

I received one day, however, a call from Judge Robertson, 
who saluted me, to my great surprise, as his successor in the 
Senate, adding, " You have heard, of course, that I have posi- 
tively declined to serve any longer in that body, as my law busi- 
ness will need my whole attention in the future, and I desire 
that you should be my successor, as no Republican can be 
elected in the district this year." This downright renunciation 
of his senatorship by the Judge, coupled with the urgings of 
my friends, which were persistent and persuasive, finally de- 
cided me to let my name be used, and I was nominated unani- 
mously by the convention assembled in Rockland County. 

A short time after my interview with Judge Robertson I was 
seated in the barroom of the United States Hotel at Saratoga 
with Lieutenant-Governor Dorsheimer, the President of the 
Senate, when the Judge came up, and, after shaking hands with 
us both, said : " Dorsheimer, I want to introduce you to my 
successor." Mr. Dorsheimer immediately replied : " Now, 
Judge, that is one of your jokes at the expense of my friend. 



AGRICULTURE AND POLITICS 339 

You know your party will not permit you to retire." The 
Judge then became serious and said : " No party can make me 
do a dishonorable thing. I even induced Col. Lathers, I think, 
to consent to a nomination. I wanted him to succeed me in the 
Senate, as no Republican could, at this time, be elected, and I 
am certain he would not have permitted himself to be nomi- 
nated if I had not informed him that I had declined and desired 
his success." 

It is due to Judge Robertson to say that I believe that this 
declaration was made by him in perfect good faith. But the 
Republican nominating convention, after several futile attempts 
to select a candidate, adjourned and appointed a committee who 
waited on him and insisted on his " saving the party " from a 
defeat which might make the State Senate (which would par- 
ticipate in the election of a U. S. Senator) Democratic; he 
finally consented to run. We conducted the campaign in the 
most friendly manner, and we always remained friends. In 
the course of the campaign I received letters of congratulation 
and encouragement from many quarters. The three following, 
in particular, gave me real pleasure as coming from persons 
for whom I entertained the highest respect : 

" Irvington-on-the-Hudson, Oct. 19th, 1877. 
" My Dear Mr. Lathers : 

" I notice with pleasure that you have accepted the nomina- 
tion for the Senatorship in our district. Your long residence 
in Westchester has enabled you to become particularly familiar 
with the wants of our county, and your oft-expressed views 
on the great requirement of the day, rapid transit, makes it a 
matter of the first importance to the residents of Westchester 
that you be elected. The friendly relations that have existed 
between us for so many years, render it impossible for me to 
allow the present opportunity to pass without expressing my 
sincere wishes for your success. 

" I remain, my dear Mr. Lathers, 

" Very truly your friend. 

" Cyrus W. Field." 



340 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

" New York, Oct. 29, 1877. 
" Hon Richabud Lathers : 

" My Dear Sir: — I learn with much gratification that you 
have consented to be a candidate for the Senate in your district. 
It is an encouragement to good men everywhere when a gentle- 
man of your eminence in business and your general capacity 
agrees to undertake a share of the burden of carrying on gov- 
ernment and brings to the work such high qualifications. I 
sincerely hope that you will be triumphantly elected. 

" Very truly yours, 

" Samuel J. Tilden." 

"Utica, Oct. 27, 1877. 
" Hon. Richard Lathers : 

. " Dear Sir: — I am surprised to learn that attacks have been 
made upon you with regard to your course during the War 
with the South. Certainly no man had more to brave and en- 
dure than you had. If the men of the South had heeded your 
words they and our country would have been saved from the 
terrible evils which have afflicted them. When the War was 
over, your personal knowledge of Southern men enabled you 
to give them advice, which they now see they ought to have 
taken. I know of no one who has stronger claims upon our 
people than you have, for your efiforts to avert war, to uphold 
the Union when it came, and to restore good will between the 
States when the War was ended. I congratulate you that your 
character is so good with your neighbors that your assailants 
are forced to get up charges so remote as to time and place. 
It shows that they must go a great way back and a great way 
ofif to invent something which will not be untrue upon its face. 

" I am 

"Truly Yours, &c.. 

" Horatio Seymour." 

The felicitations of the political workers who had been the 
most active in opposing my nomination were among the first 
to arrive. This circumstance reminded me forciblv of the 



AGRICULTURE AND POLITICS 341 

slogan of the " bummers " of the Civil War period — " The old 
flag and an appropriation ! "' — for these felicitations were almost 
invariably accompanied by a polite request for a liberal contri- 
bution to the election funds of Tammany and of each of the 
Democratic county associations. As nearly as I can recall, each 
county association expected $1,000, and Tammany (as repre- 
senting that part of the Senatorial district embraced within the 
city limits) $800. Each town organization, also, put forward 
claims, and the individual solicitors and workers at the polls 
had to be liberally provided for. Besides, the prominent lager 
beer saloons were not to be overlooked. Clubs were formed, of 
course, some of which honored the candidate by appropriating 
his name and displaying it prominently on lanterns and ban- 
ners ; and common courtesy demanded that these clubs should 
be remembered in a substantial manner. Many hundreds of 
dollars had to be devoted to printing the candidate's name in 
big letters on big banners to be hung out of Democratic win- 
dows, and for placards to be posted on fences and vacant 
houses. Mrs. Lathers was the recipient of many letters ad- 
dressed to her as " the pious wife of a patriotic candidate," 
from persons who announced their intention of giving their 
own support and that of their friends to her husband, and who 
casually called her attention to the fact that their church needed 
a new carpet and a new organ and that their church roof and 
steeple were sadly in want of repairs. 

One night during the campaign a late competitor for the 
nomination, waxing confidential under several glasses of good 
whisky, said : " Do you know. Colonel, I am now glad I did 
not get the nomination? My friends agreed to lend me $2,500 
towards the campaign expenses, but I might have been beaten 
by the Judge, and in that case, not having the advantage of the 
senatorial patronage, I would have been unable to repay the 
loan." 

The truth is, many unsuccessful candidates for ofifice, as well 
as our public officials, have been obliged to contract in their 
campaigning heavy obligations which have crippled them for 
years. 



342 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

Previous to the meeting of the nominating convention I de- 
livered an anniversary address before some two thousand mem- 
bers of an agricultural society. While I was dining with its 
President immediately afterwards, he said to me : " Your 
speech was greatly enjoyed because it dealt so practically with 
the details of farming, and also because of its entire freedom 
from politics. We were all agreeably surprised, because it is 
very rare that the speeches on these occasions are not devoted to 
politics." He then said that he proposed to support me at the 
nominating convention and bring many of his friends, and 
intimated that it might be well to make some provision for car- 
riages, since many of my supporters lived too far away from 
^e county town to walk thither. When I asked him what the 
expense would be he replied : " About fifty dollars." I imme- 
diately handed him a hundred, remarking that I wanted it un- 
derstood by this promptness, at which he appeared rather sur- 
prised, that I did not permit anyone to contract political debts 
for me ; notwithstanding this caution, my rural friend soon 
after the nomination informed me that he had a balance against 
me of six hundred dollars for the transportation and refresh- 
ment of my friends and supporters, explaining that it was nec- 
essary " to give the boys a good time." Of course, the money 
had to be paid, with many thanks for the thoughtfulness of so 
zealous a supporter. 

I was much criticised by the practical politicians (especially 
those who were the minions of certain of the disappointed 
candidates for the nomination) because I did not carry on th? 
campaign with sufficient energy — energy being synonymous 
in their minds with visiting all the saloons and drinking there 
with the roughs. The following editorial, headed " Anti-Tam- 
many against Tammany," from a prominent rural Democratic 
organ, voices this complaint : 

" Richard Lathers, the Democratic nominee for State Sena- 
tor, has been waiting for two weeks for something ; he has 
found it (the nomination of Judge Robertson), and will per- 
haps go to work. It seems he is one of those who expects 



AGRICULTURE AND POLITICS 343 

everybody to work for him, while he luxuriates at his ease 
in the Manhattan Club with the nomination in his pocket. As 
a candidate for office Richard Lathers is an abortion, as he 
is a dead weight to his party by reason of his imbecility in 
political management. This being the fact we cannot find 
fault with the action of the so-called Anti-Tammany organiza- 
tion for the twenty-third and twenty-fourth wards in taking 
a stand in favor of endorsing the nomination of the Hon. 
William H. Robertson for State Senator. . . . Democrats 
give up the fight in this Senatorial district because they find 
themselves overloaded with a candidate who will not make a 
practical canvass. He appears to think being a candidate is 
sufficient, and, if he is satisfied, we must be ; as we cannot 
change the situation. For these reasons we cannot object to 
the Anti-Tammany Democratic Organization of the twenty- 
third and twenty-fourth wards coming to the front in favor of 
an Anti-Tammany nomination for State Senator." 

A nervous person should not run for office. The abuse of 
the opposition papers in a political campaign should be dis- 
regarded. Still, there is a limit to endurance ; the last pound, 
as the saying goes, breaks the camel's back. Not content with 
assailing my loyalty during the War, and with asserting that 
I flew the Rebel Palmetto flag from my tower at Winyah Park 
once a week (said Palmetto flag being in reality a dainty piece 
of white silk bearing an embroidered anchor which the young 
ladies of the Bolton Priory raised when they were picknicking 
in the park) the New York Times charged me with being a 
rowdy, a common bruiser of New Rochelle, well known to the 
police of New York, in contradistinction to Judge Robertson, 
who was a moral and pious deacon of the church at White 
Plains. 

Being on the best of terms with the proprietor of the Times, 
Mr. Jones, with whom I had but recently traveled in Europe, 
I called on him and expostulated against the scurrility of this 
last attack, to which my wife and family were extremely sensi- 
tive, although undisturbed by legitimate political comments. 



344 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

Mr. Jones at once seized me by the hand, and with great 
fervor assured me of his friendship, explaining that he had not 
observed the article referred to. He took me into the sub- 
editor's room, and warned several of the staff there against 
this and all other such attacks on moral character. The next 
week the abusive articles continued in the same strain, though 
their form was a little more guarded. Years after, I met at 
the Arlington Hotel, Washington, a very attractive man, who, 
being a correspondent of several journals, wrote till late into 
the night and took breakfast while I was lunching. One morn- 
ing, as I took my seat at the table, he was in such earnest 
conversation with a friend that he paid no attention to my 
arrival. They were talking of the New York gubernatorial 
nomination. One of the two said, " Why not nominate Robert- 
son of Westchester ? " " Oh," said the other, " he is not 
strong enough. Lathers really defeated him for the Senate, 
but we counted him out with the assistance of Fairchild, the 
Democratic Attorney-general, whom we captured." At this 
point I interrupted them by saying, " Gentlemen, I don't want 
to be an eavesdropper, I am Lathers." My journalist ac- 
quaintance jumped right up with glee, and said, " Are you the 
Dick Lathers I was directed to abuse twice a week for a month 
during Judge Robertson's canvass? How well I recall the 
mock indignation of Editor Jones as he ordered in your 
presence the attacks to be discontinued ! " We drank a glass 
of champagne together, and in bidding them good-by, I said, 
" I hope you will advocate the nomination of my friend. Judge 
Robertson. We have never had the least enstrangement. I 
would prefer him for Governor of our State, unless we can 
have a Democrat." 

The counting out above referred to was not a myth. I was 
not only elected, but received my credentials by the unanimous 
decision of the inspectors of the three counties and this en- 
titled me to a seat in the Senate. The adverse opinion of the 
Attorney-general, who had virtually manufactured law, could 
not prevent me from taking my seat. But Judge Parker and 
other friends advised me not to run the risk of being ultimately 



AGRICULTURE AND POLITICS 345 

unseated by a partisan vote during the session and I took their 
advice. This was a mistake on my part, as was proved by the 
failure of the House of Representatives to unseat Mr. Purdy 
of the First District of Westchester County, the validity of 
whose election had likewise been denied at the same time and 
for the same reason by the Attorney-general. 

It is a curious coincidence that the law which the Attorney- 
general declared unconstitutional in order to further his own 
ends had been passed at the suggestion of Senator Robertson, 
who naturally could not foresee that it would one day be 
invoked against himself. 

During the years 1878 to 1882 I devoted considerable at- 
tention to an attempt (unsuccessful as the event proved) to 
secure for the marine underwriters their just dues under the 
Geneva Award, and I prepared and circulated with that end 
in view, a pamphlet treating of the subject. As far back as 
1868, while I was still President of the Great Western, I had 
begun to take an active interest in the settlement of the Ala- 
bama claims. Dining one day, in that year, with Sir Edward 
Thornton, the British Minister, who expressed some appre- 
hension that the Alabama matter might lead to a dangerous 
controversy between Great Britain and the United States, I 
remarked that it seemed to me that if Her Majesty's Gov- 
ernment would permit the American underwriters, who had 
suffered loss by the Confederate cruisers, to negotiate directly 
with the British authorities, as underwriters had hitherto been 
permitted to do, there would be but little left to be settled as 
an international question. Sir Edward at once replied that 
the proposition seemed feasible, and that he would write to 
London on the subject. 

Being in Washington again a few weeks later, I was in- 
formed by Sir Edward that the British Government was dis- 
posed to entertain the proposition if the underwriters could 
obtain the consent of the American Government. 

I called at once on President Grant, and related the whole 
conversation to him. The President replied that whatever 
might have been the practice between underwriters and for- 



346 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

eign powers in times of peace, it could not be followed in a 
case like this one, and he further pointed out that there existed 
a special statute forbidding, under severe penalties, any at- 
tempt of a citizen to negotiate personally with a foreign power 
while the Government was engaged in a negotiation. 

But my suggestion was not without its influence upon the 
final result, which was the award of $15,000,000 to the United 
States in consideration of the private claims ; the claims of 
damages by the United States Government, as such, being 
denied by the Court. 

While the discussion of the manner in which the distribution 
of the funds of the Geneva Award should be made was in 
progress, I had an encounter with Gen. Butler before the 
Judiciary Committee of Congress. It is well known that Gen. 
Butler (as well as several other New England members of 
Congress) and some of his constituents were interested finan- 
cially in the result, and he opposed most aggressively every 
effort to have the matter referred to the Court of Government 
Claims. In this opposition he used his favorite weapons of 
annoyance and abuse very freely, so freely, in fact, that Mr. 
Evarts refused to appear before the Committee. 

But I was so confident of the justice of the underwriters' 
claim, and so certain of the corrupt methods being used by 
those opposing it, that I determined to confront the General 
and his impertinence, and " to fight the Devil with fire," as 
the saying goes. 

Butler requested the Committee to refuse to hear me unless 
he were present, a proceeding which proclaimed him not a 
simple member of a legislative committee, but a paid attorney 
of the opponents of the underwriters. This courtesy on the 
part of the Committee delayed the hearing several days, as 
the General did not choose to attend their meetings. When, 
at last, I was permitted to appear before the Committee, I 
was informed that I could have but twenty minutes in which 
to address them, and this limited time was encroached upon 
by constant interruptions and questions from Butler. Look- 
ing earnestly at the Chairman, therefore, I said, " Mr. Chair- 



AGRICULTURE AND POLITICS 347 

man, we all know that the gentleman from Massachusetts is 
a modest and thoughtful man, who hesitates to interrupt a 
timid speaker before so august a body as this. May I ask 
the indulgence of the Chair to have my seat removed nearer 
the General so that he can just touch me on the elbow and 
I will stop till he is heard." This evoked uproarious laughter 
at Butler's expense. I continued, " Mr. Chairman, I am in- 
tensely in earnest in this request." The Chairman replied, 
" Perhaps the member to the right of General Butler will ex- 
change seats with the speaker," with which suggestion said 
gentleman was kind enough to concur. Then, gathering up 
my notes and papers with the greatest deliberation, I took ad- 
vantage of the good humor of the Committee, whose sympathy 
I seemed to have won, by asking that, owing to the interrup- 
tions made by the member, I might have my time extended. 
It was moved, in the midst of great hilarity, that my time should 
be extended one hour. 

General Butler's next interruption was a request that I de- 
scribe the process of the importation of a cargo of hemp from 
Calcutta. To this I replied that the member was fully in- 
formed as to the use of hemp for the Rebels, but did not 
understand the mode of its importation and its relations to 
insurance as well as I. I expounded at some length the bear- 
ing of such insurance on the question at issue, and, touching 
the General on the elbow, inquired whether my statement was 
convincing. He, with some temper, retorted, " I don't want 
you to touch me in that way." I explained that I was a plain 
man and that this was my manner of accentuating my replies, 
but that if this gesture was' disagreeable to the member I 
would refrain. The General also objected to my frequent 
references to his military record. I contended that such refer- 
ences were quite in harmony with the hazards of insurance, 
and that it was evident from the favor with which the Com- 
mittee received them that it so regarded them. In short, the 
General, perceiving that my auditors were sympathetic, ceased 
to annoy me, and I was able to convince the Committee that 
the underwriters were entitled to have their claims referred 



348 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

by Congress to the Court of Claims. The Committee reported 
accordingly, but, for reasons which may not be gone into here, 
they were never allowed to be presented to that Court. 

General Butler was brave and energetic, but so thoroughly 
unscrupulous that he was unable to retain the confidence of 
any political party. He was unable to get himself re-elected 
Governor of Massachusetts, even with his own Party in 
power. As a lawyer, he was employed only in cases where 
assurance was the one thing needful. Indeed, there was much 
objection to his being invited, in accordance with time-honored 
usage, to attend as Governor of the State the Annual Com- 
mencement at Williams College. On that occasion, as an hon- 
orary member of the Alumni, I occupied a seat on the platform 
with him. With his customary impudence, he devoted his 
address mainly to urging the graduates, most of whom were 
dissenters, to attach themselves to the true and ancient Epis- 
copal Church, with which he had finally connected himself, 
after having passed through most of the denominations of 
dissent. 

The close of the year 1879 brought me the sad news of the 
death of one of my dearest Southern friends, Henry Gourdin. 

Henry Gourdin was a successful merchant and a typical 
Carolina gentleman. After the Civil War he became one of 
the most energetic promoters of reconciliation between the 
estranged sections. Then, as before the War, every visitor to 
Charleston of any note was a recipient of the generous hos- 
pitality of Henry Gourdin and his brother Robert in their 
beautiful bachelor home on the South Battery, which pos- 
sessed the best-stocked wine cellar in the State. I recall with 
much pleasure the frequent dinner parties given by them not 
only to prominent Southerners, but to celebrities from the 
North and from Europe, occasions at which good-fellowship 
reigned supreme and into which no sectional, political, or re- 
ligious prejudice was allowed to intrude. Here I met on the 
very eve of the Civil War, Gen. Robert Anderson, the hero 
of Fort Sumter, and Gen. Beauregard, who conducted the 
attack upon the Fort. 



AGRICULTURE AND POLITICS 349 

It makes me inexpressibly sad to think that the scores of 
statesmen, clergymen, military men, and merchants who gave 
character to Charleston have nearly all, like these two bachelor 
brothers, passed away ; and a long interval must elapse, I 
greatly fear, before their places will be filled. 

I believe in young men ; and, if the rising young Charles- 
tonians are encouraged, they may in time become the worthy 
successors of the Gourdins and of the galaxy of public-spirited 
men who co-operated with them in developing the city — George 
Trenholm, Samuel Y. Tupper, Henry Connor, Robert B. Rhett, 
Richard Yeadon, W. A. Courtney, George F. Bryan, James L. 
Petigru, D. L. McKay, A. G. Rose, Alexander Robinson, 
James Adger, Theodore Wagner, George W. Williams, Al- 
fred Huger and C. T. Loundes. It is depressing, however, 
to witness the inertness of mercantile life in the Charleston 
of to-day ; the more depressing that it cannot be entirel\ at- 
tributed to the War, from which Savannah, although pos- 
sessed of inferior natural advantages and less capital, has 
splendidly recovered. Unfortunately, the wealth of Charleston 
is invested elsewhere, and it is upon the capitalists of Balti- 
more and other cities that Charlestonians seem to depend for 
local improvements. For the sake of the future of the city, 
it is to be hoped that the young Charleston financiers and 
merchants will soon call home the capital now invested else- 
where, and that they will follow the lead of Henn,- Gourdin 
in endeavoring to develop one of the best harbors on the 
Atlantic coast and in re-establishing direct commercial con- 
nection with the West. 

I love to recall old Charleston with its wharves crowded 
with vessels flying the flags of all the countries of the world ; 
its huge stone and brick warehouses filled with foreign mer- 
chandise imported for distribution over the Western States ; 
and its bales of cotton and casks of rice and Western and 
interior products which seemed to cover every inch of avail- 
able open space along the banks of Cooper River. 

Alas, the chang^e! 



CHAPTER XIII 

MEN AND MANNERS AT HOME AND ABROAD 

March 23, 1881, I sailed for Europe on the same ship with 
Rev. Theodore Cuyler, D. D. I quote here a portion of Dr. 
Cuyler's description of the voyage, which is to be found in a 
volume of travels entitled " From the Nile to Norway." 

" It was a raw March morning on which the stout ship 
Bothnia threw off her lines, and a cutting wind smote in the 
faces of the kind friends who gave us a parting cheer. The 
russet hills of Staten Island slowly disappeared, then the 
pasteboard of Manhattan Beach ; then we passed the life- 
ship and we were out on the great wide sea. It has not 
grown much narrower since I crossed it in the packet ship 
Patrick Henry, thirty-eight years ago, when I was a college 
youth ; but steam has put a carpeted cabin across the waves 
in half the time. The Bothnia is not famous for speed, but 
she is spacious, stout and sociable. Captain McKay's genial 
face throws a sunshine on her deck on the darkest morning, 
and Engineer Brown's violin can make the roughest night 
merry as a Christmas Feast. We have four hundred and 
twenty feet for promenade and a very genial company to 
keep step with in our daily walk. The steamer runs as true 
as a clock and hardly varied from three hundred and twenty 
miles a day after we left Sandy Hook. 

" At the Captain's table we have Gen. Richmond (Consul 
at Rome), Col. Richard Lathers, the Hon. Mr. Maxwell and 
several other good sailors, who put in an appearance at 
every meal. My kind friend, Mr. Howard Gibb, a Broad- 
way merchant, presided at the opposite table ; for he has 
crossed so often in the Bothnia that he has the freedom of 
the ship. 

350 



MEN AND MANNERS 351 

" The most enjoyable time on board, is the evening. Then 
a party of us assemble in Purser Wallace's room, and the 
Captain tells his full share of the lively stories which keep 
the room in a roar. [Here the doctor omits the most at- 
tractive part of these social gatherings, namely his own in- 
teresting personal reminiscences and his marvelous readings 
from the poems of Robert Burns.] 

" Later in the evening we adjourn to the room of Chief- 
Engineer Brown, who is a typical Scotchman worthy of a 
place in one of Sir Walter's romances. Brown is not only 
a staunch Presbyterian, but is master of the violin, and the 
sight of him as he is pouring forth such old Scotch melodies 
as Bonnie Doon, John Anderson my Jo, and Come Under my 
Plaidie, accompanied by the flute of Col. Richard Lathers, 
reminds one of the Last Minstrel when he played before 
Duchess in old Branksome Tower. He puts his whole soul 
into the instrument whether the strains be grave or gay. 
So popular are his performances, that his cabin is packed and 
some of the ladies are glad to join our party and enjoy these 
delightful nichts wi Burns. More than one of my clerical 
brethren have lively remembrances of the Scotch stories and 
strains of Highland melody in the cosy room of Engineer 
Brown. . . . 

" Last Sabbath was a day of storm. I fear that but few of 
our passengers greeted the morning with the familiar lines 
' Welcome sweet day of rest.' The deck was spattered with 
rain and washed with the stray seas that climbed over the bow. 
Only one-half of the passengers were able to join with the 
Captain and crew at the morning service in the main saloon ; 
even some of these beat a hasty retreat before the services 
were over. While the sailors were standing up to sing the 
Psalter to old ' Dundee,' they swayed to and fro like pendu- 
lums, and while I was preaching I had to hold on with both 
hands to the table. My theme was the four anchors which 
Paul's shipmates threw out during the tempestuous voyage to 
Rome. . . . The old English liturgy is the common vehicle 
of devotion at all the services of the vessels. We all meet on 



352 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

the common ground of the Apostle's Creed, the Psalter and 
Chrysostom's sweet, simple prayer ; and as staunch a Presby- 
terian as my Scotch friend, Mr. Hugh Sterling, could join in 
the responses as heartily as my Episcopal neighbor. Col. Rich- 
ard Lathers. On shore I prefer voluntary extemporaneous de- 
votions ; at sea I can appreciate Professor Hitchcock's argu- 
ments for a Book of Common Prayer." 

Some fifteen years after this ocean voyage in the company 
of this " godly and broad-minded, eloquent dissenter," as we 
churchmen call Dr. Cuyler, I attended Dr. Cuyler's celebration 
of his seventy-fifth birthday. His parlors were filled by the 
elite of Brooklyn and New York. The Catholic Church was 
represented by Father Sylvester Malone, who, a few years 
before, had celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his faithful 
pastorate over another Brooklyn congregation, on which oc- 
casion Protestants had assembled with Catholics to oiifer hearty 
congratulations. I particularly enjoyed hearing these two ven- 
erable and popular representatives of widely different creeds 
felicitating each other. My association with such men as 
Dr. Cuyler has deeply impressed on me the soundness of the 
poet's lines 

" For forms of faith let graceless zealots fight. 
His can't be wrong whose life is in the right." 

But to return to my European trip. 

While my daughters and I were breakfasting in the coffee- 
room of a Dublin hotel, preparatory to taking the steamer to 
England, we had for a table companion an English " whole- 
sale pedlar" (as the commercial traveler is called), very 
pompous and very brusque. Having heard him give direc- 
tions about his baggage for the steamer, I politely asked him 
the time the vessel would sail. Taking from his vest pocket 
an eyeglass and placing it in his right eye, a habit of these 
vulgar fellows when they wish to treat a person with scorn, 
he replied, " There is the waiter. Sir. he can inform you." On 
the steamer the magnificent traveler ostentatiously bestowed 



MEN AND MANNERS 353 

his wraps and his satchel on the seat next to mine. As we 
passed the beautiful island of Anglesea, I pointed out to my 
daughters the different features of the landscape and expressed 
a regret that the fine villa of the owner of the island, whom 
I called by name, was not in sight. A middle-aged gentleman, 
accompanied by two young ladies, who was seated near us, 
approached and, touching his broad-brimmed hat, politely re- 
marked, " Pardon the liberty I take, but as you are strangers 
admiring the coast, I desire to correct your mistake as to the 
occupancy of that island ; it is the residence of the Marchioness 

, my sister, and not of the distinguished gentleman 

you named." This opened the way for a pleasant conversation, 
from which I learned that my interlocutor had visited New 
York and was a friend of Mr. George B. Dorr and Mr. George 
Clinton, both of whom I knew well. 

Just before the steamer arrived, he said to me, " Perhaps, 
during your stay in London you would like to visit our Clubs," 
and taking a large card from his card-case he wrote some- 
thing in pencil upon it. I took the card, thanking him for 
his courtesy, and put it carelessly in my pocket, for I had begun 
to fear he was making sport of me. That a man who seemed 
to be cumbered with canes, fishing-rods, blankets, satchels, and 
other hand baggage, and who was so little of an aristocrat in 
appearance, should be the brother of a marchioness, the Presi- 
dent of the Yacht Club on his way to join the fleet at Cowes, 
and a member of prominent London clubs, strained somewhat 
my credulity. I noticed, however, that when he and his daugh- 
ters walked forward to see to their heavy baggage, they were 
met by a liveried servant, who relieved them of their innumer- 
able bundles and conducted them to a private carriage, which 
was in waiting at the end of the wharf; and this convinced 
me that he was at least no ordinary impostor. While I was 
still trying to decide whether I had been fooled or not, the 
impertinent " wholesale pedlar," who had contrived to keep 
within hearing distance during my conversation with the 
stranger, came up and, touching his hat in the most obsequious 
manner, said, " Excuse me. Sir, but I perceive that you are 



354 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

not aware of the honor you have enjoyed. Please examine 
the card you put in your pocket without looking at it." I re- 
plied, " This is quite unnecessary, for the culture and deport- 
ment of the person with whom I was talking just now are 
sufficient evidence that he is a gentleman." 

I looked at the card, however, after I had got rid of this 
vulgar fellow. It bore an engraved coat of arms and other 
insignia of family and official distinction, the name " Earl of 
Orkney," as I remember, and a penciled introduction of Mr. 
Richard Lathers of New York to three of the leading clubs 
of London. 

As the above incident indicates, there is no more agreeable, 
thoughtful, and sincere a man in the world than the cultivated 
Englishman ; on the other hand, there is no more annoying 
and disgusting a man than the toadying, uncultivated English- 
man. 

On reaching London, I presented the Earl of Orkney's card 
at the different clubs, but it procured simply permission to 
visit, accompanied by a servant, the more public rooms on a 
single occasion. Indeed, exclusiveness, as I afterwards learned, 
is the prime feature of this class of clubs, and one needs even 
more official influence to enter them than is required to secure 
a card to the Queen's drawing room. It is even said that a 
member of an aristocratic London club was once disciplined 
because he spoke to a new member without a personal intro- 
duction. 

It is just possible that our New York clubs, like the par- 
lors of our " four hundred," are more accessible to aggressive 
foreigners than to our own people. However this may be, it 
is certain that the clubs of London do not reciprocate the 
courtesies extended to their members by the clubs of New 
York. 

Here is a case in point. 

Just before I sailed from New York, the Secretary of the 
Lotos Club (which had always been famous for its lavish 
entertainment of visiting Englishmen), gave me a letter of 
introduction as a director of the Club to the President of the 



MEN AND MANNERS 355 

Savage Club of London. He specially requested me to present 
this letter and to avail myself of the privileges of the Savage 
Club, the large number of persons who had recently come to 
the Lotos with introductions from that body having become 
almost burdensome by reason of their long stays (involving 
constant applications for extensions of time) and their exacting 
temperaments. 

I presented myself several times at the Club House in Lon- 
don without being able to find any person of higher authority 
than the clerk, who appeared to be merely a sort of caterer 
for the chop house attached to the Club, where a hasty, econ- 
omical lunch, practically limited to mutton chops, potatoes, 
and beer, could be obtained during business hours. This 
worthy informed me that I might order refreshments, to be 
paid for on delivery, in the chop house, a privilege of which 
I availed myself occasionally ; but I could get access to no 
Club officer, and was accorded none of the other privileges of 
the Club. At last, however, I met one of the officers, who 
informed me that he had had the honor of being a guest of 
the Lotos Club, and would be happy to extend the courtesies 
of the Savage Club to a director of the Lotos. He said that 
the Club proposed to make an excursion to Calais, France, the 
following Sunday, and that, on the payment of a guinea in 
advance, a ticket good for the round trip and for a dinner at 
Calais would be given me. I did as he directed, secured my 
ticket and met the excursion party at the railroad station at 
the appointed hour, but was not introduced there to a single 
member of the Club. I found an American member, however, 
who explained that official introductions of this kind were not 
very common. He promised to look out for me, but was not 
able to do very much, by reason of his previous engagements 
with his friends, and on both the cars and the steamer I was 
practically alone. 

On reaching Calais we marched two abreast up to the City 
Hall, where the Mayor addressed us in French and our Presi- 
dent responded in the same language. The Frenchmen com- 
plained that our President's French was so " classical " that 



356 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

they did not understand it, and, of course, most of us did not 
understand either him or the Mayor. But we all understood 
and enjoyed uncorking the bottles of champagne which were 
provided. This ceremony over, we were informed that dinner 
would be served in a hall of the railway station at four o'clock, 
and that till then we were at liberty to occupy our time as we 
pleased. It was explained, further, that after dinner there 
would be fireworks in the public garden, to which the en- 
trance fee would be moderate, and that the cabins of the 
steamer would be open at twelve o'clock for our return ; but 
that, to prevent confusion, no one would be permitted to en- 
ter them until that hour. This program was most incon- 
venient for me. I did not desire to see the fireworks, being 
already quite disgusted with the treatment I was receiving as 
a guest of the Club, and I wished to retire early. But there 
was no help for it. 

My American acquaintance went off with his friends to en- 
joy a bath, and I wandered around the town alone till the 
dinner hour. 

When I entered the hall in which the dinner was to be 
held, I found it filled with temporary tables made of trestles 
covered with floor planking, and on these decidely uneven 
surfaces the cloths were laid. The seats were benches, most 
of which had been constructed, like the tables, by laying planks 
on trestles, and these benches were all occupied. Being unable 
to procure a seat, I waited till my American acquaintance and 
his party, who were late, returned from their bath, when a 
fresh supply of lumber was brought in with which we con- 
structed more tables and benches ; but we had to do without 
tablecloths, the supply of which was exhausted. The ban- 
quet consisted of plain, substantial food, served with good 
wines, coffee, and cigars. It was partaken of with great 
hilarity, and was supplemented by speeches which may have 
been highly entertaining to those who were French scholars 
(even the English speakers spoke in French), but which were 
anything but entertaining to those of us who were not. Late 
in the dinner, the guest from the sister club in New York was 



MEN AND MANNERS 357 

told that he would be expected to respond to a toast of his 
Club, but the party broke up before the American toast was 
reached. 

On our arrival in London, I was kindly asked by the Presi- 
dent, who had not approached me before, if I had enjoyed 
my visit to the rare old city of Calais. 

Later on, partly in consequence of this incident (which it 
afforded me great glee to relate at the Lotos on my return to 
New York), the attempt at reciprocity between the Savage 
Club and the Lotos Club was practically abandoned, and I 
cannot honestly say that I was sorry thereat. 

Many of the English visitors to the United States are most 
desirable in all respects as guests and, in their country 
homes, dispense a return hospitality which makes us all in 
love with English social life. The American in London who 
presents proper letters to his banker, may find the latter rather 
bluff in his counting-room ; but when he takes him to his su- 
burban villa and dons the regulation dress-coat for dinner, he is 
a prince in deportment, and, better still, the cultivated and en- 
gaging head of a genial, refined family. 

I recall my first visit to Todmorden, near Manchester, the 
country-seat of Thomas Fielding, Esq., to whom I have al- 
ready referred. 

After dinner, the drawing room was filled with merchants, 
literary men, and members of Parliament — among the last 
named, the son of Mr. Corbett, well known in both England 
and America for his sound views of government. Mr. Cor- 
bett was surprised and, I think, pleased when I told him that 
I had studied English grammar from his father's wonderfully 
useful textbook on that subject, which is considered by many 
grammarians superior to the Murray's Grammar of our own 
country. One of the young ladies not only presided at the 
piano, but performed a march or two (to the accompaniment 
of her sisters' violins) on the cornet, an instrument she had 
learned to play in order to instruct a volunteer band of the 
regiment commanded by her brother. 

Towards ten o'clock, when the visitors were distributed 



358 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

through the various rooms (library, billiard room, music room, 
and drawing room) according to their respective tastes, Mr. 
Fielding invited me into his private study. After we had sat 
there conversing for some time, the door opened and Mrs. 
Fielding came in, accompanied by a servant in livery bearing 
a large silver waiter upon which were a decanter of old Scotch 
whisky, hot water, sugar, and lemons. These were placed on 
a little round table between us and then, with a kiss to her 
husband and a good-night to his visitor, this beautiful and 
cultivated woman laid out with her own hands a pair of em- 
broidered slippers for each of us and retired — the servant 
standing ready to draw off our boots, his last act of service 
for the night. I shall never forget this example of an English 
wife's courteous thoughtfulness which the luxurious surround- 
ings rendered only the more touching. 

The next morning, I breakfasted alone, breakfast being ab- 
solutely without ceremony. Each person in the house, whether 
a guest or a member of the family, was expected to take this 
simple but substantial meal when he chose. The gentlemen, 
being bankers or manufacturers, had already gone to their 
offices when I descended to the breakfast room, and the ladies 
had not yet appeared. Before the grate were various dishes 
containing chops, eggs, muffins, tea, and coffee. A waiter stood 
ready to provide a hot plate and a napkin and any of the ar- 
ticles of food desired. As I finished my meal a young lady 
appeared and, after the usual compliments of the morning, in- 
formed me that she was detailed to entertain me and that the 
family carriage would be at the door at eleven o'clock for 
a morning drive ; but that, if I would prefer a horseback ride, 
a good saddle horse with which I could accompany the ladies 
was at my disposal. She invited me to walk out to the stables 
with her, as she wanted to show me her own pet saddle horse. 
As we entered the stables, she called the hostler and, going 
into one of the box stalls, rubbed the side of her horse with 
her white cambric handkerchief, a proceeding to which the 
hostler was evidently accustomed and for which he was well 
prepared. 



MEN AND MANNERS 359 

On returning from our drive to luncheon, my cicerone found 
two or three friends waiting for her, and, filling the silver cups 
with home-made beer, she invited us all to partake freely of 
her own brew. The evening before I had heard this same 
young lady discussing art and the opera with some society 
men, and the Educational Bill, then before Parliament, with 
a member of that body. Few, if any, of the daughters of the 
parvenus of New York can boast, I fancy, of such a wide 
range of accomplishments. 

I was in London when the news of the assassination of 
President Garfield reached that city, and I united with a few 
other Americans in calling a meeting at the American Ex- 
change for the purpose of expressing sympathy with Mrs. 
Garfield in her terrible affliction. This meeting resulted in a 
larger meeting which, after listening to speeches of condolence, 
adopted the following Address and ordered it to be engrossed 
and forwarded to Mrs. Garfield by the Chairman : 

"Madam: — I have the honor to forward you an address 
unanimously adopted at a meeting in which over five hundred 
Americans and English sympathizers took part in the Ameri- 
can Exchange in London. We, the undersigned Americans 
in London whose hearts are wrung with sorrow by the ter- 
rible crime which has been perpetrated on the person of our 
beloved President, respectfully offer you our deepest sympathy 
in this national calamity." 

I was still in London, when word came of President Gar- 
field's death. The following letter which I sent from there 
to a friend was intended to give an idea of the profound im- 
pression the sad news made: 

"London, Sept. 25th, 1881. 

"My Dear Mr. Smith: — I have a few minutes to spare and 
I fancy you would like to have a little sketch of the feelings and 
ceremonies here in London connected with the death of the 
President of our country. A profound grief has taken pos- 
session of all of us Americans and our English friends of every 
class join in our sorrow for the loss of President Garfield, 



36o REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

and in our execration of the foul assassination which so de- 
grades our common civilization. 

" On receipt of the sad news, arrangements were made 
at once through Minister Lowell for a memorial service 
and a large meeting was held at Exeter Hall, where Mr. 
Lowell delivered an able and scholarly address full of sym- 
pathy with the bereaved and full of hope that this severe blow 
to our country might be overruled by Divine Providence for 
our good. But the great speech of the mournful occasion was 
made by the eloquent, pious, and altogether judicious Bishop 
Simpson, of the Methodist Church, who a few years ago, as 
you must remember, preached a magnificent dedication ser- 
mon at the Methodist Church of our village, and who may be 
regarded as the St. Paul of the Methodist communion in 
America. 

" The opening prayer was made by Dr. Marshall, another 
eloquent Methodist Divine, whose tender appeals for comfort 
for the widow, and for the fatherless children, as well as for 
our bereaved country deeply moved the whole audience. It 
was remarked that Dr. Marshall was a bright example of the 
real restoration of loyal feeling at the South, and that a com- 
mon affliction was doing much to make our Union a union 
of hearts as well as a union of States. 

" On Sunday many of the churches held special commem- 
orative services, but yesterday was literally set apart as a day 
of mourning throughout London and burial services were held 
in nearly all the churches. 

" In every section of the city where I went, I observed 
marked signs of spontaneous mourning, and sorrow appeared 
to possess every^ person whom I met. 

" The shipping on the Thames, the Government offices, 
churches, club houses, public gardens and public institutions 
generally displayed British flags at half mast, or draped flags 
of our country. It was very touching to see on many of the 
shops and private dwellings the British and American flags 
entwined together, and wreathed in the same emblems of 
mourning — as if, suflfering a common affliction, they sought 



MEN AND MANNERS 361 

communion with each other. I will here mention an inter- 
esting fact. The Royal Botanic Society during the funeral 
exercises displayed the Union Jack at half mast, draped with 
palm leaves cut from a palm some fifty years old, which had 
been growing in its garden forty years. 

" Notwithstanding the estrangements incident to national 
rivalries and jealousies, there comes a time when ' blood is 
thicker than water,' and the presence of death is a touch of 
nature that makes us all kin. It makes one's heart glad to 
witness this demonstration of brotherhood between two of the 
most enlightened Protestant nations, differently governed yet 
enjoying alike the blessings of constitutional liberty, and work- 
ing out independently, each by its own chosen means, a high 
Christian civilization. After all, the poet formulated a great 
truth when he wrote : 

"'For forms of government let fools contest. 
What e'er is best administered is best.' 

" The international disputes of the ' Alabama Capture ' and 
the ' Fishery Outrage ' are buried deep and nothing is now 
heard but generous consolation from every Englishman one 
meets coupled with wishes for the future prosperity of the 
American Republic. The Queen, a veritable Empress of the 
heart, has led in these glorious manifestations of international 
comity and of personal sympathy for her sister across the 
water. 

" Victoria is unquestionably the Elizabeth of her age, and 
yet she is far in advance of Elizabeth in womanly grace and 
virtue. Her reign coincides with the most brilliant period of 
British progress ; but her kind expressions of sympathy for 
Mrs. Garfield, the sending of a delicate floral offering to dec- 
orate the bier of the deceased President, the assumption of 
mourning by herself and her Court, and in fact her whole 
attitude at this trying time will shine above all else in her 
life's history. The noble impulses of her good heart will give 
her record a crown of Christian grace. 



362 REMINISCE^XES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

" Her armies have annexed many peoples to her Empire, 
but her noble conduct has captured the hearts of milHons of 
freemen. And when Bishop Simpson in his eloquent manner 
exclaimed, ' God bless Queen Victoria ! ' the thousands rose 
en masse to say, 'Amen, God Bless her ! ' And it was long 
before the enthusiasm could be sufficiently quieted to enable 
the reverend orator to proceed. How love and sympathy 
conquer a brave and generous people when hostile armies 
fail! 

" In Westminster Abbey, prayers were said for Mrs. Gar- 
field and family, and Handel's Funeral Anthem and other fu- 
neral pieces were rendered. At St. Paul's Cathedral an inter- 
esting service was held. At St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, the 
venerable Archbishop of Canterbury preached the sermon, — 
a most effective and thoughtful address. I annex an extract, 
which exemplifies admirably the prevailing sentiments. 

" ' Families disunited are said often to be brought together 
by some family sorrow. Thank God we are not disunited, 
but we may be brought to understand and love each other 
more by our union in this common sorrow. There are many 
bonds that keep us together — the same blood, the same tongue, 
the privilege of enjoying each other's literature, whilst each 
lends the aid of its science to develop the industries, the pros- 
perity and the happiness of both. We have learned to ap- 
preciate each other. We know here in England your bound- 
less hospitality shown to ourselves or our sons who visit you ; 
but our union above all must be based on our common Chris- 
tianity. To us the Almighty has committed beyond the trust 
He has given to any other nations of the world, to carry 
through the boundaries of the human race civilization based 
on Christianity. Let us learn that this union is the only true 
union to keep us really together in the dark ages that maj' be 
in store for the human race ; that family life, social life, politi- 
cal life, must all have its cement in the Gospel. Some may 
think that from this country there goes forth at times an un- 
certain sound as to religion, and that we receive uncertain 
sounds over the Atlantic from our brethren there, but the 



MEN AND MANNERS 363 

heart of both nations, thank God, is still truly Christian.' His 
Grace pronounced the benediction, and the ' Dead ^larch in 
Saul ' was played on the organ as the vast congregation 
slowly left the church. 

" At the mounting of the Queen's Guards in the morning 
at the palace, the band played the ' Dead March in Saul.' In 
all the royal palaces the window-blinds were closed. In the 
evening, the bells of St. Paul's were tolled, which are tolled 
onh" at the death of one of the Royal Family. Among other 
distinguished clergAmen who officiated in the senaces at the 
different churches were Dr. Parker and Rev. Newman Hall 
and the new Dean of Westminster Abbey, whose name has 
escaped me for the moment. 

" Telegrams from almost every section of Europe, especially 
from Germany and France, bring us accounts of funeral 
services. In Paris, services were held in the old church 
rOratoire. under the auspices of Mr. Martin, our Minister 
there, and of the American Colony. Bishop Dudley of Ken- 
tucky made the principal address. It may be interesting for 
you to know that Coligny, Richardson and Lafayette wor- 
shiped in this old church. It is sad to recall the fact that 
some three hundred years ago, fifteen hundred Protestant 
women and children were brutally murdered within its walls 
by the fanatics of that age. 

" But I must close, to catch the mail, without taking time 
to read for correction. I leave for home on Saturday by the 
Bothnia — glad to get back to see you all — for the more I travel 
the better I like those I leave behind me. 

" Yours in haste, 

" RiCH.\RD Lathers." 

Oct. 17, 1882, at a banquet given at Delmonico's by the 
Associated Marine Underwriters of the United States in honor 
of their President, Thomas C. Hand of Philadelphia, I re- 
sponded to the sentiment, " Shipping and Commerce " ; and 
in Januan,% 1883, I delivered a lecture at Lyceum Hall, New 
Rochelle, on " Women and their Relation to Societv," in 



364 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

which, while opposing the exercise of the suffrage by woman 
and her direct participation in politics, I expressed the opinion 
that her piety, her sympathy, her love, and her restraining in- 
fluence are the efficient and only means by which society has 
been or can be elevated and purified. I afterwards published 
this lecture as a brochure, dedicating it to Mrs. Jennie Cun- 
ningham Croly, better known as " Jennie June," whose char- 
acter and career I greatly admired. 

The next month I was invited to participate in a meeting 
to deliberate upon the best manner of honoring the memory 
of Wm. E. Dodge, one of my best friends, whose death had 
been a great shock to me. I had had the honor and advantage 
of association with Mr. Dodge in connection with a large 
number of public and private enterprises, but I was especially 
grateful to him for his support and advice as a fellow-membei 
of the Board of Directors of the Erie Railroad at the time I 
was Chairman of its Finance Committee. 

I cannot recall a single worthy charitable or religious under- 
taking in New York during Mr. Dodge's lifetime of which 
he was not an earnest and active supporter and promoter. He 
did not know the meaning of sectarianism or sectionalism. 
His Christianity embraced every missionary effort at home and 
abroad ; and, although an intense Unionist and opposed to 
slavery, he was always ready to give to the South every right 
which the Constitution accorded, to make every concession in 
the interests of peace consistent with the Union, and even to 
modify the Constitution itself to insure the peace and unity 
of the nation. While no man was more consistently deter- 
mined during the Rebellion to suppress armed resistance to 
the government, none was more ready, when the South was 
defeated and impoverished, to go to its aid with liberal loans 
and gifts of money to individual sufferers, and none more vig- 
orous in opposing as far as he could by his influence in 
Congress and in his party, every measure tending to subject 
the Southern States to indignity or to deprive Southerners of 
their equal rights as members of a reunited country. I cannot 
resist the temptation to adduce an extract from his patriotic 



MEN AND MANNERS 365 

speech at the Peace Congress, of which he was a member, in 
evidence of his manly statesmanship at a time when his 
Party was as fierce in its sectionahsm as the Secession Party 
at the South: 

" I love my country and its government. My heart is filled 
with sorrow at the dangers threatening it. I came here for 
peace. The country longs for peace, and if the proposed 
amendments, now presented, will give peace, my prayer is 
that they may be adopted. I venerate the Constitution and its 
authors as highly as any member present ; but I do not vener- 
ate it so highly as to induce me to witness the destruction of 
the government, rather than see the Constitution amended or 
improved. I know the people of this country — they value the 
Union — they will make any sacrifice to save it — they will cast 
platforms to the winds before they will imperil the Union." 

Mr. Dodge began his business career, while still a mere 
boy, as a clerk in a country store, came after a little to New 
York, and, by hard work, rigid economy, good judgment, and 
strict integrity became in a few years not only one of the 
city's merchant princes but one of its first citizens. Here is 
Mr. Dodge's own account of his early business training : 

" The year 1818 found me a boy in a wholsesale dry goods 
store No. 324 Pearl Street, near Peck Slip. It was a different 
thing to be a boy in a store in those days from what it is now. 
I fear that many young men anxious to get started would 
hesitate long before facing such duties as had then to be per- 
formed. I had to go every morning to Vandewater Street for 
the keys, as my employers must have them in case of fire in 
the night. There was much ambition at that time among the 
young men as to who should have his store opened first, and 
I used to be up soon after daylight and walk to Vandewater 
Street and then to the store very early. The store had first 
to be sprinkled with water which I brought the evening before 
from the old pump at the corner of Peck Slip, and then care- 
fully swept and dusted. Afterwards came sprinkling the side- 



366 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

walk and street and sweeping the dust to the centre in a heap 
for the dustcart to remove. This done, one of the older clerks 
would come and I was permitted to go home for breakfast. 
In winter the wood was to be carried in and piled in the cellar, 
fires were to be made and lamps trimmed. In fact, junior 
clerks in those days did the work of porters now. 

" The dry goods auction stores were mostly on the corners 
in the block from Wall Street to Pine Street. When our em- 
ployer purchased a lot of goods at auction, it was our busi- 
ness to go and compare them with the bill and, if two of us 
could carry them back, we did so, as it would save a shilling 
for porterage. I remember that while in this store, I carried 
bundles of goods up Broadway to Greenwich village (near 
to what is now Seventh and Eighth avenues) and up Fourth 
Avenue to Tenth Street, crossing the old stone bridge at Canal 
Street which had long square timbers on the sides, in place 
of railings, to prevent the passers falling into the sluggish 
stream fifteen feet below which came from the lowlands where 
Centre Street and the Tombs now stand. It was the great 
skating-place in winter. Turning in at the left of the Bridge, I 
took a path through the meadows after crossing on two tim- 
bers over the ditches where the tide ebbed and flowed from the 
East River. 

" New York was then a city of less than 120,000 inhabi- 
tants, Brooklyn a town of some 7,000. Most of the families 
of merchants of wealth lived in the lower part of the city, 
the fashionable residences being chiefly around the Battery 
and up Broadway and Greenwich Street to Cortlandt Street. 
Not more than twenty-five families kept a two-horse carriage. 
The Post Office was in the parlors of a private house, altered 
for the purpose, at the corner of William Street and Exchange 
Place. I well remember the fun we had crowding each other 
up to the line while waiting for the office to open. Wood at 
this time was our only fuel. Stoves and furnaces had not yet 
come into use and how my fingers and feet ached with cold 
as I stood at the desk of a bitter cold morning ! " 

In 1884, shortly after Mr. Blaine's defeat as a candidate for 



MEN AND MANNERS 367 

the Presidency, I had the pleasure of renewing my acquaint- 
ance with him. While en route to a seashore resort I found 
him on the same steamer with me, surrounded by a group of 
politicians, one of whom, a mutual friend, offered to present 
me. I declined, fearing I might not be well received, inas- 
much as in the heated campaign just past I had reviewed 
Speaker Blaine's connection with the Credit Mobilier scandals 
with considerable plainness. 

The next day I was agreeably surprised by a call from Mr. 
Blaine, who pleasantly reproached me for not speaking to him 
on the steamer. Of course, I politely excused myself by saying, 
" I found you so much engaged, surrounded as you were by 
your friends, that I determined to defer the pleasure of re- 
newing our acquaintance until I could call on you at your 
cottage." I added that I was much flattered at being remem- 
bered by one whose time was so much taken up with public 
men and measures. Mr. Blaine answered that he had never 
forgotten the face of a person whom he had once fairly met. 
" You will recall," he said, " that you replied, as Chairman 
of the South Carolina Delegation, to my remarks when I had 
the pleasure of entertaining that Delegation at my house in 
Washington in 1874." 

In 1885 I was talked of by my political friends as a can- 
didate for State Senator in the district in which I had been 
legally elected seven years before, but I quickly put a quietus 
upon their project by sending to one of their organs a commu- 
nication in which I stated my views of the political methods 
then prevailing frankly and fully : 

" WiNYAH Park, New Rochelle, Sept. 13th, 1885. 
" To THE Editor of the White Plains Standard. 

" My Dear Sir: — Permit me to thank you for the kind and 
flattering notice of myself in connection with the candidacy 
for the State Senate. I have not put myself forward for that 
position because I have not thought it proper for a citizen to 
anticipate the wishes of his fellow citizens with regard to a 
representative office. But I fully appreciate the honor of being 



368 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

thought by any of my fellow citizens worthy to represent them, 
so that I am not expected to attempt to influence the nominat- 
ing convention, which, in my judgment ought to be left free 
to select the candidate most fit to fill the position. 

" I have had more or less to do with the politics of the 
county during thirty-six years of service in the Democratic 
Party, but have always studiously avoided putting myself for- 
ward for any position in the gift of the Party. I hope, there- 
fore, that my friends who have kindly thought of me in 
connection with the Senate and who have reproached me with 
not ' using proper means to procure delegations ' will under- 
stand that this inactivity does not arise from any undervalua- 
tion of the honor intended but from a repugnance to procuring 
a nomination by such means. 

" I believe it is well known that as a candidate, freely nomi- 
nated, activity would not be lacking on my part to insure the 
ratification at the polls of so flattering a mark of appreciation 
from my fellow citizens. The habits of parties, however, pre- 
clude free nomination, and, therefore, men like myself who are 
vmwilling to log-roll or purchase delegations must not aspire 
to represent the people. I am, yours very truly, 

" Richard Lathers." 

At the Jackson Day banquet at the Hoflfman House in 1887, 
I defended the administration of President Cleveland, par- 
ticularly its civil service policy, against the attacks which were 
made upon it by Bourke Cockran and Charles A. Dana in 
their post-prandial speeches ; and the New York Times of the 
next morning had the goodness to say that I had " laid out " 
these worthies in an " irresistible fashion." 

In the summer of 1888 I again visited Europe, and took 
part at Luzerne, Switzerland, in the first appropriate celebra- 
tion ever held there of the anniversary of American indepen- 
dence. At the banquet, which occurred at the Grand National 
Hotel, I responded to the toast, " The Institutions of our 
Country." 

As I rose to speak the toastmaster said to me in a low 



MEN AND MANNERS 369 

voice, " There is an Englishman here who wishes you to tell 
the company what America has done in the course of its 
history for the advancement of civilization." After making 
the proper references to the significance of the occasion, I 
proceeded to mention a few of the more obvious contributions 
of America to the civilization of the world. 

" We were the first people," I said, " to formulate, in Jefifer- 
son's Declaration of Independence, and definitely establish the 
great political truth that ' all men are created equal.' We 
contributed General Washington, whose military genius was 
equaled only by his patriotism and wisdom. We contributed 
Benjamin Franklin, who brought the lightning from heaven 
into the service of man. We invented and made the first prac- 
tical use of steam navigation on inland waters, and sent the 
first steam-propelled vessel across the Atlantic Ocean. Our 
Morse invented and first operated the magnetic telegraph, and 
our Field first conceived and realized the idea of binding two 
continents together by a cable. We invented the steam plough, 
the steam reaper, the sewing machine, the typesetter, the type- 
writer — in a word nearly every modem mechanism of real 
practical utility. But, ladies and gentlemen, I have reserved 
our greatest national achievement till the last. We have in- 
vented and perfected the American woman, a creature as 
unique as she is beautiful, who has dazzled the drawing rooms 
of the Old World." 

In consequence of these remarks, I was called upon the 
same evening by two ladies, who requested me to attend the 
ball given by the English, French, and Swiss ladies of Lucerne, 
all of whom desired, they said, to make the acquaintance of 
a gentleman who had spoken so highly of their American 
cousins. 

In the Presidential Campaign of 1888 I made a good- 
natured reply at White Plains to a speech upon the tariff de- 
livered by Hon. Chauncey M. Depew at Poughkeepsie a short 
time before, and created no little merriment by attacking Mr 
Depew with his own weapons. 

Senator Thurman, the Democratic nominee for the Vice- 



370 REMINISCENXES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

Presidency in this campaign, was addicted to snuff-taking and 
this habit subjected him to most violent paroxyms of sneezmg 
which put the red bandanna handkerchief he always carried 
very much in evidence. Hence the adoption by his followers 
of the bandanna handkerchief as a campaign banner. 

One day, while Thurman was addressing the Senate, a new 
member from the West, who sat near him, fell asleep. Shortly 
after, in the very middle of his speech, the speaker was seized 
with one of his irresistible sneezing attacks. The terrible de- 
tonations aroused the slumberer, who at once grabbed the 
swivel chair in front of him and began to twist it round in 
the most energetic fashion, to the great consternation of its 
occupant. The new Senator, it seems, had once been a brake- 
man on a Western railroad and, being only half awake, mis- 
took the noise that had startled him for the signal of the 
engineer to put on the brakes. 

Senator Thurman was at once one of the most popular and 
one of the most respected members of the Senate. He was a 
typical old-fashioned Democrat of culture, judgment, and in- 
fluence. It was delightful to observe the courteous friendli- 
ness which Senator Thurman and Senator Sumner displayed 
towards each other when they discussed the classics, of which 
they were both great students. 

May I, 1889, I delivered an address before the Church Club 
upon the political and social obligations of churchmen ; and 
on Jackson Day of the same year, I spoke on " Tariff Reform " 
at the banquet of the Business Men's Democratic Club of New 
York City, which had participated actively in the campaigns 
of 1884 and 1888. On Jackson Day of the following year I 
again spoke before the same organization, in response to the 
toast, " Business Men in Politics." In the course of my re- 
marks I paid my respects to both Samuel J. Randall and Gov. 
Hill. I declared in plain English that the defeat of Grover 
Cleveland at the recent Presidential election must be laid upon 
the shoulders of Governor Hill, who sought to save himself 
and was willing to do so at the expense of the Presidential 
candidate; and I stated with equal plainness that it was to the 



MEN AND MANNERS 371 

obstructive course in Congress of Mr. Randall, who posed as 
a Democrat, that we were indebted for the defeat of the 
important, and indeed vital, measures of the Democratic 
Party. 

My outspokenness on this occasion naturally caused a sensa- 
tion and gave rise to a great deal of discussion. The New 
York Tunes of the next morning contained the following: 

" THE TALK OF THE TOWN 
" COL. lathers' attack on bogus democrats 

" Col. Richard Lathers, whose stinging excoriation of Gov. 
Hill and Samuel J. Randall at the Andrew Jackson dinner on 
Wednesday night has made the partisans of these two peculiar 
Democrats wince and squirm with pain ever since, is a typical 
Andrew Jackson Democrat. . . . 

" Around the Exchanges, where most of the men who at- 
tended the Jackson dinner are wont to watch the fractional 
fluctuations of market quotations, Col. Lathers' speech was 
freely commented on yesterday. The Hill men said it had 
spoiled their enjoyment of the dinner. The anti-Hill men 
said that it was the best thing of the evening. All agreed 
that Col. Lathers had displayed great self-possession in stand- 
ing up among a body of ' mixed Democrats ' and condemning 
the course pursued by the man supported by a portion of his 
hearers. 

" Col. Lathers never had the reputation among his business 
associates of mincing his words. It was, therefore, expected 
that his remarks would not be of an empty nature, but nobody 
expected that he would handle what he regards as crying 
evils in his party with such stern frankness. What is most 
regretted by the friends of Col. Lathers is that in some way 
there was whispered about on the day of the banquet a rumor 
that he would pay his respects to the Governor, and that that 
rumor reached Mr. Hill's ears in time for him to decline an 
invitation to be present and speak, which he had previously 
accepted with grateful fervor. There were those charitable 



372 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

enough to believe that Gov. Hill, as he stated in his telegram, 
had met with ' unexpected engagements ' which prevented 
him from leaving Albany. All had faith in the Governor's 
sincerity when he said : ' I trust the entertainment will be a 
pleasant one.' It was freely said that there would have been 
more entertainment if Col. Lathers had had the Governor's 
mobile countenance to gaze upon and draw inspiration from 
as he spoke." 

At the banquet in honor of the twentieth anniversary of the 
Lotos Club, March 21, 1890, I spoke, in reply to Col. Ingersoll, 
in defense of religion. 

The following December, my home at New Rochelle was 
honored by the presence of " The Daughter of the Con- 
federacy." 

" Col. and Mrs. Lathers," said the New Rochelle Press of 
Dec. 24, " entertained Miss Winnie Davis, daughter of Hon. 
Jefferson Davis, and a few Southern friends at Winyah Park 
on Wednesday to luncheon. Among the guests were Hon. 
David Dudley Field, Ex-Postmaster-General Thomas L. 
James, Col. Garnett, Colonel Chisholm, and Mr. George Lee, 
of Virginia. 

■' It affords us pleasure to note social attentions of this kind 
towards our Southern friends, especially when they are repre- 
sented by a young lady of so much cultivation and loveliness. 
It may not be generally known that Miss Davis's mother was 
a Northern lady to whom she refers with becoming pride. 
During the Civil War it was esteemed loyal and patriotic to 
denounce and arm against every element, individual or or- 
ganized, arrayed against the Union. But now, when the Union 
is recognized and its power demonstrated in every quarter, it 
is clearly patriotic and manly to forget the civil strife, which 
carried into armed resistance many a good Southern man, 
who was misled by an exaggeration of the State Rights prin- 
ciple. Mr. Davis was a victim of this heresy, and has severely 
felt the consequences. One cannot but feel a certain degree 
of sympathy for a man who served the country as a Cabinet 



MEN AND MANNERS 373 

ofRcer, and as a Senator, with ability and integrity, and who 
displayed great bravery as an officer in our army during the 
Mexican War." 

A few short years later all Southerners and many sympa- 
thetic Northerners were called upon to mourn the demise of 
this beautiful and accomplished woman. 

About the year 1891 I built a plain but commodious sum- 
mer house at Twilight Park, near Haines Falls in the Catskill 
Mountains, and called it Chicora Cottage; Chicora being the 
name given by the early Spanish explorers to that section of 
the Atlantic coast where Charleston and Fort Sumter now 
stand — because they fancied that the word represented the 
sweet note of the mocking bird (chi-co-ra). 

During the eighties a few New York and Brooklyn gentle- 
men formed an association, of which Gen. Wingate was made 
President, purchased a picturesque tract of land in the Cats- 
kills, named it Twilight Park, supplied it with water, and 
divided it into lots of moderate size on which some sixty or 
seventy neat cottages and three clubhouses (at which the 
cottagers may take their meals) have since been erected. 

On Sunday evenings in summer the cottagers, their guests, 
and the residents of the district adjacent to the Park, assemble 
at Chicora Cottage to sing the hymns of their various churches 
for an hour and, in closing, our National hymn, " America." 

Some time since I received a visit in the Catskills from my 
old and beloved friend. Judge Richard O'Gorman. 

It was in part because Judge O'Gorman was always dealing 
in a subtle, inferential kind of wit and in part because he 
expressed in simple and refined language the poetical ideas 
that thronged his brain, that he was given the title of " the 
silver-tongued O'Gorman." 

Judge O'Gorman was one of the most respected of the 
judges of our bench, a capacity in which he served until retired 
bv age under the constitutional limitation. He had passed un- 
stained, as Corporation Counsel, through the corruption of the 
Tweed regime. While he occupied this position he was ap- 
proached by an unscrupulous Commission with the request 



374 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

that he sanction or overlook a proposed fraud which would 
naturally come under his observation. When he declined 
promptly and indignantly, he was threatened indirectly with a 
reduction of his salary. He replied that he could submit to 
such a reduction, that it might even be that his compensation 
was in excess of his services, but that he could not degrade 
his office (and himself) by condoning a fraud to retain it. 

Richard O'Gorman came to New York from Ireland about 
the same time that I came to New York from the South, and 
he quickly became popular in New York society by reason of 
his wit, his refinement, and his grace of person — for he was 
unusually handsome. The brilliant young Irish patriot was 
in great demand as a lecturer upon literary topics, and received 
an invitation, which he accepted, to deliver a lecture upon 
Goldsmith before a literary club of Troy. After the lecture, 
the Treasurer of the club handed Mr. O'Gorman the usual fee 
of $300. Mr. O'Gorman refused it on the ground that he never 
accepted compensation for services of that kind. The Treas- 
urer insisted, explaining that such a precedent would embarrass 
the club in its dealings with other lecturers ; but, finally, find- 
ing him politely firm in his refusal, suggested as a compromise 
that the money be turned over to some charitable object of 
Mr. O'Gorman's choice. To this Mr. O'Gorman readily as- 
sented. " I accept your suggestion," he said, " and propose 
(as you are kind enough to appreciate my lecture and are 
thus in sympathy with the memory of Goldsmith) that you 
give the $300 to two refined old spinsters living in Jersey 
City in straitened circumstances; they are grandnieces of 
Oliver Goldsmith." The club undertook the mission and 
were so much pleased with the dignity of the old ladies that 
they put them on their list of beneficiaries for life. 

In May, 1892, learning that Miss Lee, daughter of General 
Robert E. Lee, was visiting New York, I determined to give 
a reception in her honor. I accordingly sent out cards to my 
friends without taking any account of their political or sec- 
tional affiliations. Happening into the Lincoln Bank, of which 
Ex-Postmaster-General James is President, I fell into con- 




r.v^-^- ■ r>»\viP-'* :i ■-■"v'-jyr'. vJtf- -^-.-p 



Richard O'Gorman 
From a photograph taken by Hargrave about 1895 



MEN AND MANNERS 375 

versation with Gen. James, who remarked that he and Mrs. 
James appreciated highly the invitation to meet the daughter 
of Gen. Lee and would cancel all other engagements in order 
to be present. " I hope," he added, " you have sent an in- 
vitation to Mrs. Grant." I replied that I had had the pleasure 
of General Grant's acquaintance, but that I had never met 
Mrs. Grant. " Then, address a letter to me," he said, " ex- 
pressing a desire to have her present at your reception to meet 
the daughter of her husband's great military adversary, whom 
he treated with such chivalrous consideration on the occasion 
of his surrender." 

I wrote a letter such as General James suggested, intimating 
therein that the presence of Mrs. Grant at a reception to Miss 
Lee would be in beautiful accord with the noble example set 
by Gen. Grant. Mrs. Grant immediately took her carriage 
and called on Gen. James. She explained to him that she had 
abstained from visits of every kind since the death of her hus- 
band, but expressed a desire to keep my letter as a valued 
tribute to his memory, and promised that, if Col. Lathers would 
send invitations to her son and daughter, they would be happy 
to attend. 

The reception occurred as planned and the guests were 
deeply moved by this graceful evidence that the " bloody 
chasm " had at last been bridged. I append herewith a brief 
newspaper notice of this happy event : 

" A reception was held at the city residence of Colonel 
Richard Lathers, No. 248 Central Park West, yesterday after- 
noon, that expressed in an appropriate and touching manner 
the kindly feeling existing between the North and South. 
Miss Mary Custis Lee, a descendant of Martha Washington, 
and a daughter of Gen. Robert E. Lee, arrived in this city 
last week from Bermuda, and, as the widow of General Grant 
and her daughter-in-law were in town. Col. Lathers took the 
opportunity of bringing these representative women of the 
North and South together in an informal and quiet way. Mrs. 
Grant was unable to attend, being still in deep mourning, but 



376 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Frederick D. Grant, was present as 
her representative and completed the graceful ceremony by 
greeting the daughter of the great soldier of the South in the 
name of the great soldier of the North. A handsomely framed 
portrait of General Lee was draped for the occasion, while 
an excellent likeness of Miss Lee painted on glass for Col. 
Lathers in Florence, Italy, was exhibited. Among those pres- 
ent were Mr. and Mrs. Frederick D. Grant, Ex-Postmaster- 
General James and Mrs. James, David Dudley Field, Freder- 
ick R. Coudert, Rev. and Mrs. Townsend, Judge Roger A. 
Pryor and Mrs. Pryor, Col. and Mrs. Trenholm, Captain and 
Mrs. Garden, Wilson G. Hunt, John T. Agnew, Judge and 
Mrs. O'Gorman, Judge Robert A. Van Wyck and Mrs. Van 
Wyck, Gen. Horace Porter, Everett J. Wheeler, Mr. and 
Mrs. Mayo (of Richmond)." 

In the summer of 1893 I received a letter from the able 
economist. Prof. Perry of Williams College, for whom I en- 
tertained great respect because of his consistent and persist- 
ent advocacy of Free Trade in a High Tariff community. This 
letter is so characteristic of the man and throws so much light 
on the underhanded maneuvers of a certain class of " stand- 
patters," that I feel justified in giving it to the public not- 
withstanding the personalities it contains : 

" Williams College, July 9th, 1893. 
" Col. Lathers, 

" My Dear Sir: — I am much obliged to you for your kind 
letter received this morning. I hardly think it is worth your 
while to notice the ' Protest ' to which you refer, so feeble is 
it numerically and in every other point of view. There is not 
force enough in it to do me or the cause any good by way 
of reaction. There are fourteen signers, but five of these are 
not graduates of the College at all, and were never in attend- 
ance on the College, and as far as I know never gave a penny 
to the College or exerted a particle of influence in its behalf. 
I do not even know the residence of one of them. Neither 



MEN AND MANNERS 377 

does our Alumni Address Book give the residence certainly 
of ' S. S. Melon,' though he is a graduate. He formerly lived 
either in Ala. or Miss., we do not know which. Of the re- 
maining eight graduates, only three were ever under my in- 
struction ; Fitch, '58, now of Jefferson, O. (neighbor of Ely, 
'48, of Cleveland, the sole originator of the protest, for rea- 
sons I will give you in a moment) ; Barton, '66, New York, 
a merchant, I believe ; and Hubbell, '74, a young lawyer of 
New York. These men are as obscure, I should think, as it 
is possible for college graduates to be. Of the remaining five 
signers, Knowlson was and (I think) is, a wool dealer of Troy, 
who failed very badly a few years ago. He is a very pleasant 
gentleman, but carries no weight in any direction; Hoyt, late 
Gov. of Penn., who speaks hoarse through a whisky throat, was 
only here in College about a year in 1849, ^^^i*^ '^ ^ Pennsylva- 
nian ; Dewey is a police justice in Milford, Mass., of excellent 
ancestry, but I presume he could not tell, to save his life, the 
origin of the term ' tariff,' or the real nature of the thing 
' tariff ' ; Laselle of Whitsunville, Mass., is a very good man 
indeed, a practical manufacturer, and one whose name on 
this paper is heavier than all the rest put together ; and Ely, of 
Cleveland, O., a man interested in the iron and steel monopo- 
lies, and who has engineered this petty and contemptible move- 
ment out of spite for me personally, because a number of years 
ago he appointed himself a censor, and came into my study 
without an invitation to browbeat me, having the manners of 
an overseer or one of the Penn. iron lords. He talked two 
hours and ' gave himself away,' and his cause so completely 
in that time, that I then turned upon him savagely and gave 
him such a dressing down for the greed and plundering of his 
system, virtually confessed in his own talk, that he has borne 
me a grudge for my plain speaking ever since, and has tried 
to do this same thing before. His failure is laughable. There 
were nearly three hundred graduates of the college on the 
ground last week ; he got eight besides himself to sign his 
paper, but more than a third of his signers were ' strangers 
and aliens.' 



378 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

" The College is thoroughly committed to Free Trade with- 
out any reference to me one way or the other. It gave John 
Bright an LL. D. in 1875. Bryant, the most honored name 
upon its catalogue, was the first President of the A. M. F. T. 
League, and one of his last public utterances was ' I have been 
fifty years in the service, and have never wearied of it.' The 
second President of the same was D. D. Field, the greatest 
lawyer ever graduated here. The present President is D. A. 
Wells, the only graduate of the college who has ever taken 
D. C. L. at Oxford University. My own position is impreg- 
nably strong. The Trustees and the Faculty, though not gen- 
erally free traders, are unanimously for me as a Professor and 
a man. I could not ask for anything better in any respect, 
and so long as the breath is in my body I shall voice the 
wrongs and losses of God's poor under a wretched system of 
spoliation. 

" My answer to all this will come in about two weeks in a 
new and splendid edition of my book, of which you will re- 
ceive an early copy. 

" Very kindly, 

"A. L. Perry." 

In 1894 I prepared and delivered before the Borcella Club 
of New Rochelle a series of lectures on art, the first of which 
was afterwards printed in a pamphlet of fifty pages. As a 
young man I had painted somewhat myself en amateur, and I 
had always taken great delight in collecting works of art and in 
discussing art questions with artists — especially with Daniel 
Huntington and Edward Moran, with whose achievements and 
ideals I was profoundly in sympathy. 

Edward Moran, who was born in England in 1829, dis- 
played artistic talent at a very early age and produced credit- 
able work when he was only nine, under the guidance of a 
French art-decorator. While still a boy, he cam.e to this 
country with his parents who settled in Maryland, where he 
was put to work in a factory. This drudging factory life 
soon palled on him and, one day, he collected his belongings 






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MEN AND MANNERS 379 

and went to Philadelphia — walking the entire distance. In 
Philadelphia, he worked first for a cabinet maker, then for a 
bronzer and house painter and, finally (on the advice of two 
artists with whom he had become friendly), he took a studio 
in Callowhill Street and devoted himself to his art. After a 
fairly successful career in Philadelphia, he came to New York, 
where enterprise and talent always make their mark, and now, 
at a ripe age, he is enjoying the reward of the arduous labors of 
his early manhood. 

The year 1896 was marked by the celebration of our Golden 
Wedding, but as a special volume devoted to that event has been 
printed I will limit myself to quoting a part of the account of 
the ceremony which appeared in the New York Tribune the 
next day : 

"A NOTABLE GOLDEN WEDDING 

" COLONEL AND MRS. LATHERS RECEIVE THEIR FRIENDS 

" The doors of the town house of Colonel Richard Lathers, 
No. 248 Central Park West, were thrown open to his friends 
from 4 to 7 p. m. yesterday, in celebration of the fiftieth an- 
niversary of Colonel and Mrs. Lathers's wedding day. Al- 
though many of the invited guests pass the summer out of 
town, the reception rooms were crowded with 500 people, 
who had taken the opportunity to congratulate Colonel and 
Mrs. Lathers upon the occasion. 

" The rooms were decorated with yellow roses and daisies, 
and Colonel Lathers's rare collection of paintings and engrav- 
ings added to the attractiveness of the surroundings. Among 
the collection may be noted original works of La Volpe, Joseph 
\^ernet, Story, T. A. Richards, and Emmons, as well as Edward 
Moran's Centennial picture of New York Harbor, and a por- 
trait of Colonel Lathers painted by Huntington a quarter of 
a century ago. There are also engravings of the works of 
Albert Durer (1507), Panini, Watson (1750), Le Brun, Hamil- 
ton, Bartolozzi, Turner, Simmons and Landseer. Two notable 
pieces of statuary were placed in the parlors, ' The Lost Pleiad," 



38o REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

Randolph Rodgers's last work, for which General Scott's 
daughter was the model, and ' Judith,' by Tadolini, of Rome, 
which was originally executed for the Italian Government, but 
was purchased by Colonel Lathers. A well-known Italian 
countess posed for this work. Two rare and beautiful Sevres 
tables, which were the property of Louis Philippe, and were 
abandoned by him after his abdication of the French throne, 
were also on exhibition. They represent, respectively, authen- 
tic portraits of Henri IV and the beauties of his court, and of 
Louis XVI and his court ladies, the miniature portraits being 
copies of the originals in the Louvre. 

" Among the most interesting pieces on exhibition was a 
handsomely framed collection of pictures, selected for the oc- 
casion, which represented portraits of Colonel and Mrs. Lathers 
taken before their marriage, their portraits of a few years 
ago, portraits of their children, pictures of the house in New 
Rochelle where the young couple began their married life, 
of the Colonel's present home at New Rochelle, Winyah Park ; 
pictures of the houses at Pittsfield, Mass., and at Charles- 
ton, S. C, where he entertained distinguished Northern and 
Confederate soldiers ; Chicora cottage in the Catskills, and 
the churches of which he was many years warden — Trinity 
Church, New Rochelle, and the church at Georgetown, S. C. 
The plain white silk dress in which Mrs. Lathers was married 
was also exhibited " 

The nomination of Bryan for the Presidency by the Dem- 
ocratic Convention of 1896 was a great shock to me, and it 
was absolutely impossible for me to give the ticket my sup- 
port. The following letter which I sent in July to the Chair- 
man of the Election Committee of Westchester County explains 
sufficiently my position : 

" C. H. Nixon, 

"Dear Sir: — I have just received a copy of the Westches- 
ter Tribune, in which it is announced that I have been ap- 
pointed, as usual, a member of an Election Committee for the 



MEN AND MANNERS 381 

support of Bryan and Sewall, the nominees of the late Chi- 
cago Convention. I hereby decline, with all respect to the old 
Party friends appointing me, as I am utterly opposed to the 
candidates and to the populistic and disorganizing Anti-Demo- 
cratic platform which they are pledged to support. 

" I have been for fifty years in Westchester County and 
New York City, an active supporter of the Democratic prin- 
ciples and measures of Jefferson and Jackson, the founders of 
our Party, and I am too proud of my Party and personal rec- 
ords to have them sullied. 

" I am not disposed for the sake of nominal fealty to my 
Party to contribute to its destruction and to the overthrow of 
our conservative institutions by such ignorant anarchists as 
Tillman and Altgeld, who have lately sprung into power by 
sectional and populistic appeals to the ignorant and unthink- 
ing portions of the South and West. 

" I propose, therefore, at the coming election to support the 
federal nominations and platfonn of the Republican Party 
and to support such candidates for Congress of either party 
as are pledged for sound money, and have a fair chance of suc- 
cess. In all else, I will support, as I have during a lifetime. 
the Democracy. Democracy being a principle, as well as a 
Party, is best served by maintaining its purity even at the 
expense of facing a minority. 

" Very truly yours, 

" Richard Lathers." 

August 19, I gave at Twilight Park, by request of the ladies 
of the Colony, a talk exposing the fallacy of the Free Silver 
proposition to a mixed audience containing a number of dis- 
tinguished men — among them Rev. Dr. G. W. Smith, Presi- 
dent of Trinity College, Hartford, and Bishop Andrews of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, New York. 

May I, 1897, I again addressed the New York Church Club 
at its anniversary banquet on " The Duty of Churchmen to the 
State," practically the same subject as that upon which I had 
addressed it eight years before — a subject to which interven- 



382 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

ing events had given point. This address and the address of 
1889 having been printed together in pamphlet form, I need 
only say here that I urged upon the club a more useful and 
practical line of church work than it had undertaken hitherto, 
and the admission of clergymen to its membership, and in- 
sisted that the time had come for the church to exert its in- 
fluence for the preservation of the purity of the government 
under which we live. 

My interest in this vital subject induced me about this 
time to donate to Williams College a fund the income of 
which should be used for a gold medal to be awarded an- 
nually to that member of the Senior class who should hand in 
the best essay on " The Duty of Christians to Government." 
One of the conditions I imposed was that the prize essay be 
published in two prominent journals " in order to insure an 
annual discussion of an important subject, under the sanc- 
tion of one of our educational and religious institutions." 

In the latter part of May, 1897, I was elected an honorary 
member of Flandreau Post, 509 (New Rochelle) G. A. R., 
a distinction which I accepted with pride and gratitude. 

The unrighteous Spanish-American War was almost as 
great a shock to me in one way as the nomination of Bryan 
had been in another. I protested publicly against the resolu- 
tions of the Hundredth Annual Conference of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church indorsing the villainy, and I published a 
pamphlet entitled " A Letter on the Social and Political Deg- 
radation of the Times," in which I criticised severely this 
and several other radical departures from the traditional policy 
of our people. 

The Springfield Republican referred to my pamphlet as 
follows : 

"THE TIMES ARE OUT OF JOINT 

" The venerable Col. Richard Lathers, who will be recalled 
by many Berkshire people as a former resident of Pittsfield, 
continues to be a shrewd observer of public affairs from the 
retirement of his suburban home, near New York. He has 



MEN AND MANNERS 383 

lately had printed a pamphlet entitled ' A letter on the social 
and political degradation of the times, its cause and remedy.' 
The publication was prompted by some remarks in the Church- 
man, calling attention to the growing hostility of European 
sentiment to the typical American character which has doubled 
in volume and ferocity since the Spanish war, and which should 
not be lightly treated, as it is by the people and the press. 
For, observes the Churchman, it has always been a matter 
of great importance to a nation how it is regarded by its 
neighbors. 

" First, says Col. Lathers, we must candidly admit the ex- 
istence of these evils and weaknesses which afford examples 
for animadversion in social or political life at home or abroad, 
and then try to correct them. Col. Lathers has traveled much 
abroad, and had ample opportunity to observe the ways of his 
countrymen there. He admits with shame that Europeans 
are quite justified in their criticisms of the class of Americans 
with which they most come in contact. These are the rich 
parvenus who take up their abodes in the principal cities and 
live extravagantly, while offering the fortunes of their daugh- 
ters for husbands to such of the nobility as need American 
money to repair their fortunes. Indeed, he remarks, the great 
social prize for our parvenu families and their heirs and 
daughters appears to be a visit from the Prince of Wales 
and an invitation to the Queen's drawing-room receptions, the 
passion for which is the great annoyance of our Minister in 
London. This passion for even an humble connection with 
the aristocracy of Europe extends to and is merged in politics. 
Our own Boss Croker in his race-horse connection with the 
Prince of Wales can only afford Tammany Hall a visit of a 
few weeks occasionally to return among us to regulate and 
direct the municipal affairs of Greater New York. 

" The thought of Boss Croker naturally leads Col. Lathers 
to a consideration of the political demoralization existing in 
municipal and national government at home. Almost every 
leading statesman from both parties, he complains, has been 
driven out of responsible official life and from representative 



384 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

offices. With few exceptions, from alderman to United States 
Senator, we are creatures of political bosses, of machine leaders, 
as ignorant as they are rapacious. Purity of administration 
was formerly secured, he says, by means of faithful attend- 
ance on party caucuses and nominating conventions of the 
respective parties, as well as by voting at the polls. This full 
discharge of citizenship promoted a degree of honesty and 
good-will even in hostile contests, and largely counteracted the 
influence of demagogues and professional office-seekers, and 
there is no substitute for personal effort in a democratic re- 
public. This pregnant conclusion Col. Lathers drives vigor- 
ously home with amplifying illustration and argument." 

This pamphlet evoked from my old friend. Rev. Theodore 
Cuyler, D. D., the following ardent letter. It would have 
been every way worth while if it had done nothing more : 

" 176 Oxford St., Brooklyn, Oct. i, '98. 

" ily Dear Old Friend: — Amen! and Amen! to every line 
of your pungent and powerful pamphlet ! 

" It ought to go on wings of the press into every house — 
and heart — in the land. 

" This war is none for ' humanity ' — but in results — for 
land-grabbing has brought us no glory and involves us in num- 
berless perils. 

" What a Senate also ! to settle the many problems ! 

" Oh for one hour of Abraham Lincoln ! 

"I write in haste — as I am just off to preach to the students 
of Princeton University. 

" I am my dear Colonel, 

" Yours heartily. 

" Theo. L. Cuyler." 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE EVENING OF LIFE 

June 29, 1899, owing to my increasing age, which condemned 
me to relative inactivity, I resigned my membership in the 
Lotos Club, which I had joined soon after its foundation and 
of which I had been a member for twenty-one years ; but, 
at the urgent request of the Chib, I withdrew my resigna- 
tion and allowed my name to be put on the non-resident list. 

Although I have been at one time or another a member 
of several clubs (including the Reform, Twilight, Union, and 
Manhattan) and of many societies, (literary, artistic, mili- 
tary, philanthropic, economic, and scientific) the club relation 
which has afforded me the most social and intellectual grati- 
fication has been that with the Lotos. 

The Lotos Club was organized and chartered in 1870, its 
object being (to quote the language of its historian, Mr. John 
Elderkin) "to cultivate the social intercourse of the musical 
and dramatic professions and such merchants and profes- 
sional gentlemen of artistic tastes and inclinations as would 
naturally be attracted to such a club." 

The initiation fee was placed at $20, raised later to $50, 
and, still later, as the membership increased, to an equality 
with that of the other important clubs of the city. At its first 
meeting, every member, it has been jocularly remarked, was 
elected to an office. Its present members, and those who 
have visited its sumptuous quarters on Fifth Avenue, will be 
amused to learn that, in the beginning, the members were 
obliged to sit around on camp stools and such empty candle 
and soap boxes as the steward was able to procure at short 
notice. But this lack of luxury did not prevent these early 
meetings from being occasions of the greatest good cheer. 

Among the original members and early Presidents of the 

385 



386 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

Lotos was the Hon. A. Oakey Hall, who did so much for it 
financially and socially that he has been very properly called 
" the father of the Club." Mr. Hall was a leader in Tammany 
Hall and the most astute politician of his time. His capacity 
and popularity were so great that he could count on an un- 
limited tenure of any public office he was willing to accept. 
He served as Attorney-general and, subsequently, as Mayor 
of the City with great acceptance to all parties in spite of 
his political connection with Tweed and his corrupt ring. 
After the exposure of Tweed, Mr. Hall demanded an inves- 
tigation of his administration as Mayor, and was pronounced 
innocent of all participation in the Tweed frauds. But he 
was so mortified by his unfortunate connection with the scandal, 
and so exhausted by the ordeal through which he had passed, 
that he left New York and went to London, where his talents 
and the high reputation of the New York law firm to which 
he belonged gave him ready access to the courts. He became 
an editor of the London, and later, of the Paris, edition of 
the New York Herald, which his friend James Gordon Ben- 
nett owned. He was restless, however, as men of his bril- 
liancy and versatility are apt to be, and he finally drifted 
hack to New York, utterly without means, and eked out a 
precarious living there by furnishing the papers, at starva- 
tion rates, with essays and reminiscences. He died suddenly 
without even letting his friends know how much he needed 
assistance. I passed a few hours with him at the Lotos Club 
one day talking over old times and was inexpressibly shocked 
the next day to hear of his death and the necessity of raising 
money for his funeral. He had been too proud to make his 
condition known. 

Hon. Whitelaw Reid, also an original member, was the 
President of the Lotos at the time I became a member, and 
filled that position for some thirteen years, during which it 
acquired its peculiar reputation for hospitality to visiting ce- 
lebrities, among whom may be mentioned Thackeray, Dickens, 
Froude, Lord Houghton, Tupper, Count de Lesseps, Henry 
Irving, Editor Sala, Bartholdi, Sir Edwin Arnold, Gilbert and 




Colonel Riciiakh Lathers 
Reproduced from a photograph by Bogardus, taken lata in life. 



I. 

I 

]! 



THE EVENING OF LIFE 387 

Sullivan, Dean Stanley, Prof. Proctor, Wilkie Collins, Dean 
Hole, Dean Kingsley, Edwin Yates, and Harry Furness. 

The last banquet I was able to attend — in the spring of 1892 
■ — -was given in honor of Whitelaw Reid on his return to 
America after serving his country as Ambassador to France. 
It was the largest and most brilliant banquet the Club had 
given up to that time, and the pre-eminence of America in 
the art of post-prandial oratory was demonstrated anew. In 
fact, the just reputations of Gen. Horace Porter and Chauncey 
M. Depew as after-dinner speakers were largely made at the 
banquets of the Lotos. 

The late Col. Thomas W. Kno.x (another original member) 
was my sponsor at the Lotos and my almost constant com- 
panion there. In fact, between Col. Knox and myself there 
was an attachment so strong and singular that it attracted 
the attention of the Club. 

Col. Knox was a confirmed bachelor, agnostic, a New Eng- 
land Abolitionist, a loyal member of the Union League Club, 
and an ultra-Protectionist ; while I was a married man, a 
churchman, a Southern Pro-Slavery man, and a Free Trade 
Democrat connected with Tammany Hall. And yet, notwith- 
standing our mutually antagonistic views and in spite of the fact 
that we discussed freely and fully the very subjects upon which 
we differed most, we were never estranged for a moment 
thereby. 

We occupied for seventeen years contiguous rooms at the 
Club (for I, as a suburban and country resident, found it 
convenient to keep a room there) and we breakfasted and 
lunched together, at our joint expense, practically every day 
when one or the other was not absent from the city — our 
last luncheon together occurring only two days before Col. 
Knox's sudden death ; and our personal respect and, perhaps, 
love, for each other condoned opinions and habits which 
might otherwise have led to difficulties. 

Our luncheon was usually selected by Col. Knox, and was 
divided, even down to the fruit, with great exactness, for 
Col. Knox was exceedingly scrupulous in such matters. It 



388 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

was, as a rule, very simple, and, although neither of us was 
what is called " a temperance man," was rarely accompanied 
by wine. The cordiality of our relations may be judged from 
the following letter, brief as it is, which Col. Knox sent me 
while we were both in Europe : 

"Zurich, Suisse, July 26, i88i. 
" My Dear Colonel: — Received your letter on my arrival 
in Paris, but was so ' done up ' with the heat that I could not 
venture on anything which could possibly be delayed. De- 
voted all my energies to keeping cool, but with only partial 
success. 

" Here I am in Switzerland. Cannot give you any better 
address than my bankers, Drexel, Harjes & Co., 31 Boulevard 
Haussmann, Paris, as I only stay a day or two in a place — 
or a few days at farthest — and my movements are uncertain. 
Shall fetch around at Paris about Aug. 25th and stay there 
till Sept. 2d. I sail from Havre Sept. 3d. 

" If we don't manage to meet here, we have a good chance 
of it at the old Lotos in the autumn, where we will talk over 
the summer's campaign and recount our marvelous adventures 
by flood and field. 

" Believe me as ever, 

" Sincerely yours. 

" Thos. W. Knox." 

The Philadelphia Press of July 6, 1900, contained the fol- 
lowing apropos of the action taken by the Democratic Nomi- 
nating Convention at Kansas City : 

" New York, July 5. — There is something in the tone of 
voice, the bewildered, anxious look and the utterances of men 
who have been known for years as conservative and con- 
sistent Democrats, when they speak of the proceedings at Kan- 
sas City, which excites pity or sympathy. They are bemoaning 
what seems to them to be the humiliation and demoralization 
of the party with which they were once proud to be associated 
as members. . . . 



THE EVENING OF LIFE 389 

" Colonel Lathers this naorning said that he could not look 
upon the gathering at Kansas City as a representative Demo- 
cratic body. To him it seemed more like a respectable mob, 
respectable in the sense that it was not violent or of law-break- 
ing disposition. But to him it illustrated the demoralization 
and pitiable end to which the Democratic Party had come as 
a result of its willingness to consort with Populism. 

" ' This convention does not represent the purposes, the 
patriotism or the influences that dominate intelligent, con- 
servative and reasonable Democrats.' These were Colonel 
Lathers' words, and he added that for that reason, he could not 
be expected to support, and he did not see how any other con- 
servative Democrat could be for an instant tempted to support 
the candidates and the platform of the Kansas City Convention. 
In speaking of the address made by Governor Thomas, of 
Colorado, who was temporary Chairman of the Convention, 
Col. Lathers called attention to the fallacy, as he alleged, 
which it contained in one of the most plausible of its para- 
graphs. 

" He did it as an illustration of the illogical thinking, and 
of the crude inaccuracy of statement which he asserts char- 
acterizes so much of the utterances of those who have been 
brought forward as subordinate leaders under the chief leader- 
ship of Bryan. 

" Manhattan." 

I do not recall having been " interviewed " by " Manhat- 
tan," the intelligent correspondent of the Press; but he 
stated fairly the views of the conservative members of the 
party of Jefferson, Jackson, and Cleveland, and I am quite 
willing to let these views stand as my own. 

Fealty to principle leaves no room for compromise. Noth- 
ing is to be gained by obedience to the dictates of self-con- 
stituted bosses, who acquire their power in a party by ignoring 
or overriding the fundamental principles of that party. It 
was not wholly nor even mainly the bi-metal theory of Mr. 
Bryan and his following that prevented old Democrats from 



390 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

co-operating with them, but the absolute dishonesty of pur- 
pose for which it stood — a social and political sin which no 
genuine old-time Democrat could countenance for an instant. 

August 15 of this same year I was appointed a Vice-Presi- 
dent of the Charleston Exposition — an appointment which I 
accepted in a letter commending Charlestonians for making 
a serious effort at last to restore to old Charleston some 
measure of its whilom prosperity and prestige. 

William M. Evarts, to whom I have had frequent occasion 
to refer in these notes, died on the first of March, 1901. 

I became acquainted with Mr. Evarts while organizing, in 
the year 1854, the Great Western Insurance Company, of 
which he became the counsel and a director. He was a most 
judicious adviser as to the general policy of the Company, 
and always recommended the greatest liberality in the settle- 
ment of losses. Indeed, the Great Western practically intro- 
duced the now prevalent custom of paying immediately the 
losses about whose legality there could be no reasonable doubt, 
and of considering with liberality those that were equitable 
even if they were not covered by the policy. This attitude 
rendered the Company exceedingly popular, and I cannot recall 
a single defense by the Company against the suit of any policy- 
holder during the fifteen years I was connected with it. 

During my first visit to London, I called upon a noted 
lawyer to have a large trust fund deed of some $600,000 
drawn up for a guarantee fund in Europe against losses pay- 
able by the Great Western in London. I experienced some 
delay (unusual in our New York law offices) in gaining ac- 
cess to the lawyer, whom I had met frequently at dinners and 
other social functions, and I complained accordingly. The 
lawyer remonstrated : " You don't mean to say that your 
distinguished friend, Mr. Evarts, can grant an interview at 
any time he is called upon ? How can he find opportunity 
to prepare his great cases?" I explained that on such occa- 
sions he did not appear at his office, but used the library at 
his residence. " No matter how he makes up his cases, inter- 
rupted or not, he is a wonderful man," was his polite re- 



THE EVENING OF LIFE 391 

joinder. " Do you know, Sir, I met him at a large dinner 
party of distinguished clergj'men, and his speech on the Canon 
Law perfectly surprised the old Bishops there." To this, wish- 
ing to impress on the Englishman the fact that Mr. Evarts 
was but a glorified type of our young professional men, whose 
hard study gave them, like Evarts, rather a cadaverous and 
aged look, I replied, " Perhaps you do not know that the 
students in our colleges are not expected to spend their time 
verifying Euclid or making Greek verses, and that their free- 
dom from these tasks gives them time to pursue practical 
studies. Had you met Mr. Evarts at an engineers' dinner, 
you would have had from him an exhaustive address on 
mechanics." The English barrister, who was a graduate of 
Oxford, replied, " Do you know, I think your American col- 
leges are right? " 

With all his learning, profundity, and conscientious thor- 
oughness, Mr. Evarts was a great wit. 

When the Committee from the Taxpayers' Convention, of 
which I was a member, visited Washington, we called upon 
Mr. Evarts and laid before him in detail the robberies com- 
mitted by the negroes and carpet-baggers in the Legislature 
of South Carolina. One of our number said, " Mr. Evarts, 
if you were to go into the present Legislative Hall, you would 
be driven out by the intolerable stench of that unclean body." 
Mr. Evarts laughingly replied, 

" So they are like the poet's roses, 
' They steal and give odors.' " 

Gen. Butler never forgave Mr. Evarts his reply to his 
bumptious and boisterous arraignment of Johnson. When the 
General had ceased gesticulating and vociferating, Mr. Evarts 
remarked in his quiet way that there were two forms of argu- 
ment — discussion and concussion. A distinguished L^nion 
Commander in the Civil War being desirous of capturing Fort 
Fisher had filled a vessel with explosives, anchored it near 
that fortification, set fire to it and caused a fearful and noisy 
explosion. This gallant commander expected to find, when 



392 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

the smoke cleared away, that the Rebel fortification and its 
defenders had been blown skyhigh ; but, to his mortification, 
the fort stood as firm as ever. That was concussion. This 
General's experiment with concussion having failed at Fort 
Fisher, he was trying it on the Senate ! 

I might fill pages with instances of Mr. Evarts' faculty for 
turning the arguments of his opponents into ridicule. But 
I will limit myself to his reply to George S. Boutwell of 
Massachusetts, in the Johnson impeachment trial, one of the 
many great trials in which he played a leading part. 

" Travelers and astronomers inform us," said Mr. Bout- 
well, in his peroration, " that in the Southern heavens, near 
the Southern Cross, there is a vast space which the unedu- 
cated call ' the hole in the sky,' where the eye of man with 
the aid of the powers of the telescope, has been unable to 
discover nebula, or asteroid, or comet, or planet, or star or 
sun. In that dreary, cold, dark region of space, which is 
only known to be less than infinite by the evidences of creation 
elsewhere, the Great Author of the celestial mechanism has left 
the chaos which was in the beginning. If this earth were 
capable of the sentiments and emotions of justice and virtue, 
which in human mortal beings are the evidences and the 
pledge of our divine origin and immortal destiny, it would 
heave and throw, with the energy of the elemental forces of 
nature, and project this enemy of two races of men into that 
vast region, there forever to exist in a solitude as eternal as 
life, or as the absence of life, emblematical of, if not really, 
that ' outer darkness ' of which the Saviour of man spoke in 
warning to those who are the enemies of themselves, of their 
race, and of their God. But it is yours to relieve, not to 
punish. This done, and our country is again advanced in the 
intelligent opinion of mankind. In other governments an un- 
faithful ruler can be removed only by revolution, violence, or 
force. The proceeding here is judicial, and according to the 
forms of law. Your judgment will be enforced without the 
aid of a policeman or a soldier. What other evidence will be 
needed of the value of republican institutions? What other 



THE EVENING OF LIFE 393 

test of the strength and vigor of our government? What 
other assurance that the virtue of the people is equal to any 
emergency of national life ? " 

In reply, Mr. Evarts said : " Indeed, upon my soul, I be- 
lieve he is aware of an astronomical fact which many profes- 
sors of that science are wholly ignorant of. But nevertheless, 
while some of his honorable colleagues were paying attention 
to an unoccupied and unappropriated island on the surface 
of the sea, Mr. Manager Boutwell, more ambitious, had dis- 
covered an untenanted and unappropriated region in the skies, 
reserved, he would have us think, in the final councils of the 
Almighty, as the place of punishment for convicted and de- 
posed American presidents. 

" At first I thought that his mind had become so ' enlarged ' 
that it was not ' sharp ' enough to discover the Constitution 
had limited the punishment, but on reflection, I saw that he 
was as legal and logical as he was ambitious and astronomical, 
for the Constitution has said ' removal from office,' and has 
put no limit to the distance of the removal ; so that it may be, 
without shedding a drop of his blood, or taking a penny of his 
property, or confining his limbs, instant removal from office 
and transportation to the skies. Truly, this is a great under- 
taking; and if the learned manager can only get over the ob- 
stacles of the laws of nature, the Constitution will not stand 
in his way. He can contrive no method but that of a con- 
vulsion of the earth that shall project the deposed President 
to this infinitely distant space ; but a shock of nature of so vast 
an energy and for so great a result on him might unsettle even 
the footing of the firm Members of Congress. We certainly 
need not resort to so perilous a method as that. How shall 
we accomplish it? Why, in the first place, nobody knows 
where that space is but the learned manager himself, and he 
is the necessary deputy to execute the judgment of the Court. 

" Let it then be provided that in the case of your sentence 
of deposition and removal from office, the honorable and as- 
tronomical manager shall take into his hands the execution of 
the sentence. With the President made fast to his broad and 



394 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

strong shoulders, and, having already essayed the flight by 
imagination, better prepared than anybody else to execute it 
in form, taking the advantage of ladders as far as ladders 
will go to the top of this great Capitol, and spurning then 
with his foot the crest of Liberty, let him set out upon his 
flight, while the two houses of Congress and all the people 
of the United States shall shout ' Sic itur ad astra.' 

" But here a distressing doubt strikes me ; how will the 
manager get back? He will have got far beyond the reach 
of gravitation to restore him, and so ambitious a wing as his 
could never stoop to a downward flight. Indeed, as he passes 
through the constellations, that famous question of Carlyle, 
by which he derides the littleness of human affairs upon the 
scale of the measure of the heavens, ' What thinks Boeotes 
as he drives his dogs up the zenith in their race of siderial 
fire?' will force itself on his notice. What, indeed, would 
Boeotes think of this new constellation? 

" Besides, reaching this space, beyond the power of Con- 
gress even ' to send for persons and papers,' how shall he 
return, and how decide in the contest, there become personal 
and perpetual the struggle of strength between him and the 
President? In this new constellation, thus established forever, 
who shall decide which is the sun and which is the moon? 
Who determine the only scientific test which reflects the hard- 
est upon the other ? " 

Although possessed of great public spirit and an intellectual 
leader of his party, Mr. Evarts was but an indifferent poli- 
tician so far as his own interests were concerned. 

Thus have passed away in my time without receiving the 
highest office in the gift of the people four statesmen — Henry 
Clay, John C. Calhoun, Daniel Webster, and Wm. M. Evarts — 
who in services and in talents were head and shoulders above 
their fellow-legislators. Is this Republic ungrateful? Or is 
there a decadence of appreciation among us of public talent 
and service? 

As I have already related, it was customary for the cot- 
tagers of Twilight Park and the gTiests at the several hotels 



THE EVENING OF LIFE 395 

in the vicinity to assemble ever}' Sunday evening during the 
summer in Chicora Cottage to sing for one hour the psalms 
and hymns of their respective churches. ' September the 15th, 
1 90 1, was the last evening of the tenth season of these 
gatherings. 

After three hymns had been sung, I rose and said : " Ladies 
and gentlemen, to-night closes the tenth year of these meetings. 
Before we separate, I desire in behalf of myself and my family 
to express the pleasure they have given us. 

" Not a single disagreeable incident has occurred to mar 
our harmony — a remarkable record considering the number 
of religious denominations here represented. 

" But to-night we are called upon, in common with our 
whole country, to mourn the loss, by wicked assassination, of 
our beloved President and to contemplate with deep humilia- 
tion an atrocious crime which disgraces our civilization the 
more than it has recurred three times within thirty-six years. 

" President Abraham Lincoln died at twenty-two minutes 
after seven o'clock on the morning of Saturday, April isth, 
1865. He was shot by John Wilkes Booth. 

" President James A. Garfield died on Monday, September 
19th, 1881, at thirty-five minutes after ten in the evening. He 
was shot by Charles J. Guiteau. 

" President William McKinley died on Saturday, September 
14th, 1901, at fifteen minutes after two o'clock in the morning. 
He was shot by Leon Czolgosz. 

" To have participated in these three national sorrows is 
one of the penalties of my long and active life. I made the 
address before the Tammany Society, of New York, in 1865 
on the death of President Lincoln. I acted as one of the 
Committee in London, which organized the large meeting of 
Americans and Englishmen on the occasion of the death of 
President Garfield, in 1881. And to-day I called you together 
to listen to the wise, patriotic and pious consolations of our 
distinguished fellow-cottager, the Rt. Rev. Henry Y. Satterlee, 
Bishop of Washington, in this our great national and personal 
affliction. 



396 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

" But the Bishop received a telegram this afternoon peremp- 
torily calling him to Washington to participate officially in 
the arrangement for the funeral services of the President. 

'■ I now read you, therefore, an excellent letter from the 
Bishop, which I shall follow with a short extract from the 
prayers adapted for the occasion by Bishop Potter of this 
Diocese : 

" ' My Dear Colonel Lathers: — I have just received word 
from Washington which obliges me to leave on to-night's 
boat. To my deep regret this will prevent my coming to your 
house to-night. To express what we all feel so deeply in these 
sad days, is simply impossible. This dumb shaken feeling 
which pervades the country brings back vividly the days of 
the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Our beloved President 
will ever be associated with that martyr. Their lives and 
works were different, but their aim was the same. 

" ' Faithfully yours, 

" ' Henry Y. Satterlee.' 

" ' O Almighty God, the Supreme Governor of all things, 
whose power no creature is able to resist, to whom it justly 
belongs to punish sinners, and to be merciful to those who 
truly repent, save and deliver this land, we beseech Thee, from 
all false teaching and from all secret foes and grant that this, 
Thy people, being armed with the weapons of truth and 
righteousness, may drive far hence all lawless men and all 
treasonable fellowships and so preserve the heritage of their 
fathers to be the home of a God-fearing nation, ever doing Thy 
holy will, to the glory of Thy holy name, through Jesus Christ, 
Our Lord. Amen. 

" ' O merciful God and Heavenly Father, who hast taucjht 
us in Thy Holy Word that Thou dost not willingly afflict or 
grieve the children of men, look with pity, we beseech Thee, 
upon the sorrow and shame of our common country, stained 
and dishonored by the murder of its Chief Magistrate. Re- 
member us, O Lord, in mercv, sanctifv this sore chastisement 



THE EVENING OF LIFE 397 

to our greater good ; dispel our ignorance ; arouse us from our 
indifference, enlighten us by Thy Holy Spirit, and so lift up 
Thy countenance upon us and give us peace. Grant to her, 
who by this sorrow has been most of all bereaved, that she, 
walking by faith, may see Thy light in all her darkness, and 
at last having served Thee with constancy on earth, may be 
joined hereafter with Thy blessed saints in glory everlasting. 
Amen.' 

" This letter and this prayer are far more appropriate than 
anything I could venture to say on this painful and solemn 
occasion. 

" And now. Ladies and Gentlemen, neighbors and friends, 
in deep sympathy with you and with the country in its be- 
reavement, I bid you good-night." 



CHAPTER XV 

LAST REFLECTIONS 

In looking backward over the past sixty years, I have no 
tenderer memories, barring of course, those connected with 
my family life, which cannot interest the public, than those 
connected with my relations with the church. 

I am the great-grandson of the Rev. Richard Dawson, an 
English rector of an Irish parish — a kind of waif, a child of 
the church — and I have been connected with three parishes, 
in three different States and Dioceses, whose beginnings reach 
back beyond the foundation of our national government itself. 

My church record begins as a pupil in the Sunday School of 
the parish church of Prince George Winyah, in Georgetown, 
South Carolina. The rector at that time was the Rev. Paul 
Trapier Keith, lineal descendant of the Rev. Alexander Keith, 
who was despatched to Carolina by the Lord Bishop of Lon- 
don as rector of this same church. The present church build- 
ing was erected in 1734 with brick sent across the ocean from 
England for the purpose. 

In due time, before quite reaching my majority, I became 
a warden of the church and, some time after, Mr. Keith was 
called to old St. Michael's, Charleston, as the successor of his 
cousin, the Rev. Paul Trapier. I resigned my ofHce in the 
Prince George vestry on my removal to New Rochelle, where 
I was at once elected a warden of Trinity Church on the 
nomination of my friend, Rev. Thomas W. Coit. Trinity 
was an old Huguenot church which conformed and received 
its charter as an Episcopal Church from George the Third ; 
and my co-warden at Trinity was, curiously enough, the 
grandson of an original Huguenot from France. Trinity is 
among the most thriving of our country parishes and I am 
proud of my association of over half a century with it. 

398 



V. 

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2 
o 



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o 
n 

w 
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LAST REFLECTIONS 399 

As warden of Trinity Parish, I became a delegate to the 
Episcopal Convention of the New York Diocese in 1849, and 
have served in that capacity in every annual session up to the 
present — except when prevented by absence from the State, 
in Europe or at the South — and I have had the honor of en- 
dorsing the credentials of three of our Bishops. I have wit- 
nessed the steady growth of our Church and the importance 
and influence of its Diocesan councils upon the social, political, 
and intellectual movements of the time. Indeed, the Church, 
its sacred functions quite apart, is among the great lights of 
modern civilization. 

One of the principal questions to be passed upon by this, 
my first Convention, was the application of St. Philip's Church, 
a colored congregation, for the admission of their delegates 
to seats therein, which was granted by a large majority. The 
issue had been debated at many previous sessions, but a vote 
had been avoided hitherto by resort to parliamentary tactics. 
The clergy, as a body, believed that the agitation for the ad- 
mission of colored delegates was prompted by political rather 
than by ecclesiastical motives, but they could not conscien- 
tiously vote for exclusion. The colored delegates sat alone 
in their pew, and were barely recognized even by those who 
had been their most ardent advocates. They took no part in 
the proceedings beyond answering to their names when called 
upon to vote. Dr. I. McCune Smith, a South Carolinian, the 
first colored man ever admitted to any legislative body in this 
country, was the chairman of this delegation. 

This Convention of 1849 was a most remarkable body. The 
clerical delegates included Dr. Frank Vinton, Dr. Seabury, 
Dr. Hawks, Dr. Thomas House Taylor, Dr. Wainwright, Dr. 
Horatio Potter, Dr. Samuel R. Johnson, Dr. Gregory Biddle, 
Dr. Haight, Dr. Higbee, Dr. McVicar, Dr. Whitehouse, Dr. 
Beeman, Dr. Anthony, Dr. Coit, and Dr. Tyng ; and among the 
lay-delegates were Luther Bradish, Julian C. Verplanck, P. S. 
VanRensselaer, Floyd Smith, John A. Dix, Horatio Seymour, 
Stewart Brown. Frederick de Peyster, Frederick S. Winston, 
Erastus Brooks, John E. xA.spinwall, W. E. Dunscome, Thomas 



400 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

Floyd Jones, Cyrus Castor, Murray Hoffman, I. C. Spencer, 
John Jay, Walter R. Jones, Lewis Morris, George L. Buy- 
chisek, John A. King, and Hamilton Fish. 

The Rev. Dr. Vinton was, for several years, the most 
prominent clergyman in the Diocese. Indeed, he was the first 
choice in the several election contests for the Bishopric, but, 
owing to more or less jealousy of his talents on the part of 
some of his fellow-clergymen, he was always defeated. I 
became acquainted with Dr. Vinton and his lovely wife, in 
New Orleans, while we were the guests there of a mutual 
New England friend, Mr. Adams. I recall the Doctor's elo- 
quent and profound sermons, which so delighted the Episco- 
palians of New Orleans during his visit, and I cannot resist 
the impulse to relate a striking instance of womanly considera- 
tion on the part of Mrs. Vinton, which was worthy of a daugh- 
ter of the gallant and distinguished Commodore Perry. The 
church where the Doctor preached in the evening was some 
distance from Mr. Adams' house, but the weather being fine, 
it was agreed that we should walk thither. Our host, having 
a previous engagement, was unable to accompany us ; so his 
wife was escorted by the Doctor, and Mrs. Vinton by myself. 
After walking a short distance in close proximity to the Doctor 
and Mrs. Adams, Mrs. Vinton remarked, " You may not know 
that Mrs. Adams is an old New England sweetheart of the 
Doctor's. He has not met her in many years until our visit 
here. It is quite natural that they should have many pleasant 
memories to recall, and, as she is a little hard of hearing and 
the Doctor will have to converse rather audibly, let us drop 
back some distance so they may talk more freely of the bygone 
days." 

Dr. Vinton had not been long at Trinity Church, New York 
— whither he had come from a relatively unimportant Brooklyn 
parish — before he had established a reputation for preaching 
profound and eloquent sermons. Indeed, one of these sermons, 
delivered shortly before the Secession War, was considered 
by many the fairest and most scriptural statement of the rela- 
tion of the Church to the institution of slaverv that had ever 



LAST REFLECTIONS 401 

been made at the North. He justified slavery as a paternal 
institution, inherited from the patriarchal ages, by numerous 
quotations and inferences from both the Old Testament and 
the New, and explained that the harsher features of slavery 
in the South were ameliorated wherever the refining influence 
of the Church prevailed. 

During the Civil War I invited a friend to whom I had often 
quoted passages from this sermon to go with me to hear Dr. 
Vinton preach. Imagine my surprise when the Doctor, in his 
.sermon of that day, ignoring the statements and arguments of 
his former discourse, asserted that slavery had not only been 
the cause of disunion, but that it had gradually undermined 
the civilization, culture, and religion of the South. In proof 
of this assertion he stated that in his youthful days, while still 
a student, he had visited Virginia, and found there a high 
degree of social and religious culture, and that at his last 
visit, after a lapse of twenty years, he had noticed a great de- 
terioration in these respects. 

My friend remarked that the Rev. Doctor had " gone back 
on himself," if I had quoted his former sermon correctly. I 
said, " No, you are mistaken. He has merely omitted his 
previous theoretical views, but has truthfully related just what 
he observed on each of his visits to Virginia. You must un- 
derstand that when the Doctor, as a cadet from West Point 
( where he associated with the elite of the South, which was 
largely represented in that school), visited the South, he came 
into contact with slaveholders of culture, who held inherited 
slaves solely for the tilling of the soil, and who treated them 
almost like members of the family. On his next visit he was. 7X«a«_<*^ ^"^ 
unfortunate in having letters of introduction to a class of/g_^^^^,»<i -i&C^ 
modern slaveholders, who did not inherit their slaves fron|^,i&,»s»,^_ 
family estates and who did not use them for tilling the soil\ 
but who reared them mainly for sale further South, where\ 
they could be more profitably employed, and bought and sold) 
them like cotton." 

Mrs. Beecher Stowe was imposed upon by visiting this same 
class, and misled the public accordingly. 



402 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

Another conspicuous figure in the New York Diocese was 
Dr. Stephen H. Tyng. He came to New York from Phila- 
delphia, where he was highly esteemed as a brilliant orator, a 
profound sermonizer, and a zealous pastor. He had low- 
church leanings theologically, but was a martinet in maintain- 
ing the dignity and power of the priesthood. His self-assertion, 
backed by his unquestionable ability, rendered him unpop- 
ular with the would-be leaders in church politics, while his 
great energy in connection with charitable enterprises and his 
imaffected piety made him one of the most popular of our 
city clergymen with the general public. In one of the dio- 
cesan conventions, soon after his entrance into the New York 
Diocese, a leading clerical member interrupted a speech he 
was making before he had had time to explain his drift, by 
remarking, " The gentleman has misapprehended the question 
before the Convention." Without waiting for further ex- 
planation. Dr. Tyng said, "Sit down. Sir! When Dr. Tyng 
desires to debate a question before such a body as this, he has, 
he hopes, too much modesty to make the attempt without com- 
prehending the question, and if the reverend gentleman will 
preserve his soul with patience, and exercise the same modesty 
before attempting to interrupt a speaker in an untimely manner, 
he will be less offensive." 

This settled the status of Dr. Tyng in the Convention, and 
insured respect for him throughout the Diocese. 

I recall another instance of Dr. Tyng's masterfulness in 
debate. A resolution (in the interests of the poorly paid 
clergymen of the country parishes) had been introduced and 
well received, which made it the duty of the senior warden to 
read from the chancel a request for an increase of salary in 
order to relieve the rector of the embarrassment of appealing 
to his congregation himself. No objection having been made, 
the President was about to put the question, when Dr. Tyng 
suddenly arose. He said that the ill-paid country clergymen 
were often unworthy of better compensation ; that they were 
lazy, and seemed to think their whole duty consisted in reading 
tlie service in a hum-drum manner and preaching common- 



LAST REFLECTIONS 403 

place sermons on worn-out topics, which opened neither the 
hearts nor the purses of their hearers. He held that such men 
were of no value to their parishes or to the Church at large, 
and that they would do better to go into some less intellectual 
occupation in which they could earn a living and leave their 
parishes open to young men who had energy and talent to 
put into the work of the Master. He believed that the congre- 
gations could be counted on to take care of godly young men 
of that stamp. " Besides," he concluded, " I object to laymen 
going into the chancels to perform the functions of our clergy. 
The fact is my vestry could not produce a man so immodest 
as to attempt that service." 

As a result of this vigorous protest, the resolution was 
overwhelmingly defeated. 

While Dr. Tyng was delivering a lecture on Romanism in 
Philadelphia, the celebrated and learned Catholic priest, Dr. 
Piese of the Barclay Street Church, New York, interrupted 
him, questioning one of his statements. Dr. Tyng looked at 
him a moment, and said in a determined voice, " Sit down, 
Sir. I do not choose to have the current of my address inter- 
fered with. I, therefore, withdraw the remark for future 
reference should you desire to discuss the question on a more 
timely occasion." It was believed that Dr. Piese was sent 
down to Philadelphia to antagonize and draw Dr. Tyng into 
debate. 

Dr. Tyng was a hard and enthusiastic worker in his parish. 
He had over a thousand Sunday-school scholars and was 
able to call every one of them by name, and he often con- 
tinued to use their Christian names after they were grown 
up. He always addressed Mrs. Lathers and her sisters 
thus. 

Dr. Henry C. Potter, the present Bishop of the New York 
Diocese, whose credentials I had the honor of endorsing, is a 
national figure. The following letter, reciting his career, which 
he sent me in response to an urgent request, some months 
back, reveals the beautiful spirit of Bishop Potter both as a 
churchman and a citizen: 



404 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 



" Diocesan House, Lafayette Place, 

" New York, July 7, 1900. 
" My Dear Colonel Lathers: — With every wish to obhge 
you, I fear I can command the time to do so only in a brief 
way. I came to New York in May, 1868, as Rector of Grace 
Church, having just turned thirty-three. I found a run-down, 
down-town parish, with a half empty Church, wedded to old 
fashioned methods, and dreading innovations of any kind. My 
first task was to awaken it to the responsibilities arising out of 
its neighborhood (a) to clerks and the transient classes, (b) 
to the large tenement house population on the east of it, and 
(c) to the responsibilities in view of its obligations of leader- 
ship as a historic Church, first, to the two larger interests of 
its own Communion, and then the higher welfare of the whole 
community. To this end I built Grace Chapel in East 14th 
Street a free Church ; Grace Memorial House in Fourth Avenue 
for work among the children of working people ; a Parish 
House on Broadway north of Grace Church ; a Chapel and 
Sunday School building on the south side ; organized Clubs. 
Reading Rooms, Societies for caring for the sick and strangers. 
&c., &c. This work was spread over some 15 years, during 
which I succeeded in overcoming the prejudices of my people 
against night-services and free seats, and had this ultra-ex- 
clusive fashionable Church crowded on week nights, with 
strangers, and a center of influence and leading among ' all 
sorts and conditions of men.' My Episcopate called me to 
other tasks and widened a good deal my horizon ; but I came 
to it with the keen conviction that the Episcopal Church was 
not merely the Church of a privileged class or Culte, but had 
a message and a welcome for all classes and communities — 
the laborer as well as the employer, the Clerk as well as the 
Capitalist. I succeeded in carrying through our Diocesan Con- 
vention the scheme which divided the Diocese into five Arch- 
deaconries — New York, Westchester, Dutchess, Orange, and 



LAST REFLECTIONS 405 

Richmond; and made each Archdeaconry a center of Mis- 
sionary authority and activity. 

" In New York, I planted the Pro-Cathedral in Stanton 
Street, connected it with the Community House in which young 
laymen, and trained women reside for a month or more at a time 
and work among the tenement house population, along the 
lines of the University Settlement idea. Here we also founded 
cooking schools, sewing schools, free baths, gymnasium, a 
free library. &c. Meantime, I took up the extinct shell of the 
Cathedral plan, filled up the Board of Trustees with able men, 
and called on my fellow citizens and fellow Churchmen to help 
me. How nobly they have done so you know. We have been 
enabled to secure the most superb site in any city in the modern 
world, have gathered over $2,000,000, have begun services in 
the Crypt, and are moving on to the completion of the vast 
structure, with wholly unexpected rapidity, and with, what is 
best of all- — the hearty sympathy of every best element of the 
Community. 

" Of my work as a citizen you are quite as familiar as need 
be. In the Diocesan House, we organized, some years ago, 
the first Voluntary Board of Arbitration in this countn,', in- 
cluding, together with others, both the employers of labor and 
laborers as members. I have been privileged to arbitrate some 
of the largest strikes in the country, and in every case with 
successful results. As you know, I have maintained my right, 
while holding that the Clergy shall stand apart from official 
connections with political organizations, to ' speak my mind ' 
as a citizen, and have done so — and that, my dear Col. Lathers, 
is really all that I can tell you. One thing I think may with 
truth be said, that to-day the Bishop of New York belongs 
to all his fellow citizens for service, and that of whatever creed, 
they so account him — to all of them for service, and to none 
of them for tribute. 

" Believe me. my dear Colonel Lathers, 
" Very faithfully vours, 

"H. C. Potter." 



4o6 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

Hardly second in sacredness to my memories of my church 
relations are my memories of the social occasions through 
which I was permitted to bring the estranged of the two 
sections of our country together. 

About an equal number of Union and Confederate officers 
have met one another, since the War, under my roof-tree and 
have reviewed there their battles and their tactics in the freest 
and kindliest manner. Of the Union officers, I remember 
Robert Anderson, George B. McClellan, Nelson A. Miles, 
Daniel E. Sickles, Vogdes, L. P. di Cesnola, John A. Dix, 
William F. Bartlett, Irvin McDowell, Stewart, Van A'liet, 
and Admiral Ammen ; and of the Confederate officers, Joseph { 

E. Johnston, James Chestnut, J. B. Gordon, J. C. Breckin- 
ridge, M. C. Butler, A. R. Lawton, James Connor, gonum, Oi<nJh> 
Gustavus W. Smith, and Mansfield Lovell. 

It is to me a thought of unspeakable joy that I have been 
able to hear Gen. McDowell of the Northern Army and Gen. 
Bonum and Gen. Chestnut of the Confederate Army exchange 
Yit/*^^^ reminiscences of the War and discuss with genial humor at 

my table, in Charleston, over their Madeira, the tactics of Bull 
Run and other battles. In my Charleston house. Gen. Joseph 
E. Johnston met socially Speaker Randall of Pennsylvania. 
Governor Seymour of New York and Ex-Gov. Clifford of 
Massachusetts met Governor Magrath of South Carolina, Ex- 
Gov. Gordon of Georgia, and the ex-Secretaries of the Con- 
federate Treasury, Trenholm and Memminger. There, also, 
the venerable William Cullen Bryant met the G eorgia poet, 
James R. Randall. 

At Abby Lodge, in the Berkshires. I entertained — as far 
as practicable in groups — the celebrities of the North and 
South, who, slavery and secession apart, had common ideas 
or common aspirations : Governor Curtin, the War Governor 
of Pennsylvania, and Gov. Orr, the War Governor of South 
Carolina ; Gen. Mansfield Lovell, who commanded the Con- 
federate forces captured by Gen. Butler at New Orleans, and 
Gen. W. H. Bartlett, the gallant Union general of Massa- 



]/\/i.*AA 



LAST REFLECTIONS 407 

chusetts; Samuel Bowles, editor of the leading Republican 
journal of New England, and F. W. Dawson, editor of the 
Charleston News and Courier, the leading conservative Demo- 
cratic organ of the South after the War; Rev. Dr. Irenaeus 
Prime, editor of the Observer, the Presbyterian organ of New 
York, Rev. Dr. Henry M. Field, editor of the Evangelist, the 
Congregational organ of New York, and Rev. Dr. A. Toomer 
Porter and Rev. Dr. Pinckney of South Carolina; Rev. Dr. 
Moses D. Hoge, the distinguished Virginia divine who ran the 
naval blockade to England in order to procure Bibles for the 
Confederate Army, and Rev. Dr. Todd, the New England divine 
who wrote the celebrated Todd's Manual ; two ex-Speakers 
of the House of Representatives, Galusha A. Grow of Penn- 
sylvania, and James Orr of South Carolina ; the novelists, Her- 
mann Melville of Massachusetts, and William Gilmore Simms 
of South Carolina ; the Rt. Rev. Thomas Lynch, Roman Catho- 
lic Bishop of South Carolina, and Rev. Dr. Paddock, Episcopal 
Bishop of Massachusetts. 

At Winyah Park, New Rochelle, I presented Gen. Hooker, 
of the Confederate Army, to Judge Pierpont, our minister to 
England. And it was there that Miss Winnie Davis, the 
accomplished daughter of Jefferson Davis, met such eminent 
Northerners and Southerners as Hon. David Dudley Field, 
Gen. Joseph James, Wm. M. Evarts and Charles O'Conor, and 
Govs. Hoffman, Tilden, Seymour, and Flower. 

Finally, in my New York home, I had the crowning satisfac- 
tion and honor of presenting Miss Mary Lee, the daughter of 
Gen. Robert E. Lee, Commander-in-chief of the Confederate 
forces, to the daughter-in-law of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, the 
Commander-in-chief of the Union forces. 

Alas, most of these persons, like most of the persons men- 
tioned in these reminiscences, are now in their graves — for 
death respects neither patriotism, virtue, nor the honors of this 
world. 

I love to recall these occasions of social reconciliation be- 
cause they bring vividly before me my friends of both sec- 



4o8 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 

tions and because they are a welcome relief from the anxieties 
with which every patriotic heart must be filled by the present 
disorganized and threatening state of our public affairs. 

" Let fate do her worst, there are relics of joy, 
Bright scenes of the past which she cannot destroy, 
That come in the night-tiine of sorrow and care, 
And bring back the features which joy used to wear. 
Long, long be my heart with such memories filled! 
Like the vase in which roses have once been distilled — 
Yon may break, you may shatter the vase if you will. 
But the scent of the roses will hang round it still." 



INDEX 



INDEX 



Abby Lodge, 326-331, 406-407. 
Academy of Music, Meetings at, 

72-73, 181-183. 
Ackerman, Attorney Genera!, 

293-29S- 
Adams, Charles Francis, 198, 

209, 210, 211, 213, 332-333- 
Adams, John, 105. 
Adams, John Quincy, 28. 
Adams, Mr., 400. 
Adams, Mrs., 400. 
" Address " to the South adopted 

by the Pine Street Meeting, 

102-110. 
Adee, Mr., 47. 
Adger, James, 349. 
Agnew, John T., 336, 376. 
Aiken, William, 121, 322. 
Albani, Mme., 47. 
Alexis, Grand Duke, 47. 
Allen, Charles F., 282, 283. 
Allen, John, 66. 
Allen, Mr., 331. 
Allen, Thomas, 330-331. 
Allston, John Ash, 8. 
Allston, John H., 8. 
.\Ilston, Joseph, 9. 
Allston, Pinckney, 8. 
Allston, Robert F. W., 8. 
Allston, Washington, 8, 9. 
Altgeld, Gov., 381. 
Ammen, Admiral, 406. 
Anderson, Robert, 57, 348, 406. 
Andrew, John A., 306-307. 
Andrews, Bishop, 381. 
Anthony, Edward, 36. 
Anthony, Rev. Dr., 399. 
Appleton, William H., 72. 
Archer, Hugh, 114-115. 
Arnold, Sir Edwin, 386. 
Aspinwall, John E., 399. 
Aspinwall, J. L., 66. 



Aspinwall, William H., 40, 57, 

102, 197-198, 211, 213, 295. 
Astor, William B.. 40, 61, 91. 
Astors, The, 41, 48. 
Atkinson, Samuel, 8. 
Auchmuty, Col., 331. 

B 

Babcock Bros. & Co., 222. 

Babcock, Gen., 324. 

Babcock, Samuel D., 66, 130, 

131, 132, 279. 
Bacon, Joshua, 312, 314. 
Bacon, Mrs. Joshua, 312, 314. 
Bacon, The Misses, 312, 314. 
Baldwin, George E., 91, 102. 
Baldwin, Major, 57, 179. 
Barbour, John M., 102. 
Barlow, S. L. M., 72, 306. 
Barnard, D. D., -JZ- 
Barnum, P. T., 57-58. 
Bartholdi, 386. 
Bartlett, William F., 330, 331, 

406. 
Barlotozzi, 379. 
Barton, Mr., 377. 
Bartow, Gen., 134. 
Bastiat, 18. 
Baylis, C, 312, 314. 
Baylis, Mrs. C, 312, 314. 
Beauregard, Gen., 348. 
Bedell, Bishop, 218. 
Bee, George W., 67. 
Beekman, James W., T2, 91, 102. 
Beeman, Rev. Dr., 399. 
Bellows, Henry W., 317-318. 
Belmont, August, 41. 
Belmont, August, & Co., 222. 
Benkard, James, 66. 
Bennett, James Gordon, 386. 
Berrien, Senator, 136. 
Bethune, Rev. Dr., 73. 
Bible, Breeches, 328. 



411 



412 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 



Bible, Raphael's, 328. 
Biddle, Gregory, 399. 
Bishop, W. D., 312, 314, 316. 
Bishop, Mrs. W. D., 312, 314. 
Blackington, W. S., 331. 
Blaine, James G., 324, 366-367. 
Blatchford, R. H., 40. 
Bodeska, 47. 

Bond Street (New York), 38-41. 
Boniim, Gen., 406. 
Booth, John Wilkes, 395. 
Borcella Club, 378. 
Boutwell, George S., 307, 392- 

394- 
Bowles, Samuel, 331, 332-333, 

407. 
Bradish, Luther, 399. 
Brady, James T., 40, 91, 118. 
Breckinridge, Gen., 406. 
Breckinridge, Vice - President, 

120, 154. 
Briggs, Ex-Gov., yji- 
Brigham, H., 132. 
Brigham, L. H., 66. 
Bright, John, 213, 378. 
Brooklyn Heights, 36. 
Brooks, Erastus, 91, 399. 
Brooks, James, 72, 72- 
Brower, John H., 46. 
Brown Bros. & Co., 222. 
Brown, Engineer, 350-351. 
Brown, James, 40, 66, 279. 
Brown, John, 72. 
Brown Joseph E., 130-134. 
Brown, Sandy, 123. 
Brown, Sexton, 47. 
Brown, Stewart, 91, 102, 399. 
Bryan, George S., 121, 292, 293, 

316, 349- 
Bryan, William Jennings, 232, 

380, 389- 
Bryant, William Cullen, 308- 

309, 378, 406. 
Buchanan, James, 97, 152, 181. 
Burke, Edmund, 145, 307, 327. 
Burke, Judge, 15. 
Burnside, Gen., 215. 
Burr, Aaron, 15, 305. 
Butler, A. P., 14. 
Butler, Benjamin F., 56, 153, 

211, 324, 346-348, 391-392, 406. 
Butler, M. C, 406. 
Butler, William Allen, 53. 58. 
Butler, Col., 12, 80. 
Buychisek, George L., 400. 



Calais (France), Excursion to, 

355-357. 
Caldwell, Samuel B., 67. 
Calhoun, Andrew P., 31-33. 
Cadwallader, Gen., 229. 
Calhoun, John C, 22, 23, 25-33, 

76, 141, 145-146, 147-148, 15S, 

202, 203, 394. 
Campbell, J. B., 309. 
Canterbury, Archbishop of, 362- 

363. 
Carpet-baggers, 232-240, 269- 

272, 288-295, 299-302, 319-325- 
Carr, Thomas G., 8, 14. 
Carter, Oliver G., 92. 
Castor, Cyrus, 400. 
Central Park, 37-38. 
Central Park West, No. 248, 

374-376, 379-380, 407. 
Cesnola, L. P. di, 406. 
Chamberlain, Ex-Gov., 238. 
Chamber of Commerce. New 

York, 67-68, 184-185, 1S6, 188, 

192, 199, 287. 
Chandler, N., 66. 281. 
Chapin, Chester W., 331, 332. 
Chapman, John, 8. 
Chase, Salmon P., I73-I74, 188, 

257- 
Chesnut, Gen., 406. 
Chicora Cottage, 373. 
Chisholm, Colonel, 372. 
Choate, Joseph H., 67. 
Church Club, The, 370, 381. 
Church, John B., 15. 
Cisco, John J., 61, 174. 
Clarendon Hotel, 46, 53. 
Clark, Judge, 57. 
Clarke, Horace F., 63. 
Clay, Henry, 28, 41, 136, 150, 

158-159, 394- 
Gierke, Thomas W., 102. 
Gierke, William B., 92. 
Cleveland, Grover, 4, 368, 370- 

372, 389. 
Cleves, Langdon, 17. 
Clews, Henry, 237. 
Clififord, John H., 304, 305, 306, 

307, 406. 
Clinton, Charles, 40, 47. 
Clinton, George, 353. 
Coachman, John W., 8, 14. 
Cobb, Howell, 79, 82, 144. 



INDEX 



413 



Cockran, Bourke, 368. 

Coddington, Ex - Postmaster, 
38. 

Cohen, J. Barrett, 247. 

Cohen, Solomon, 134. 

Coit, Rev. Dr., 399. 

Coit, Thomas W., 398. 

Coligny, 363. 

Collins, Wilkie, 387. 

Colonels' Club, The, 53. 

Colt, Judge, 330, 331. 

Colt, Thomas, 330, 331. 

Commander, James M., 8, 14, 
34-35- 

Comstock, C, 91. 

Connor, Henry W., 8, 349. 

Connor, James, 406. 

Cooper, Fenimore, 39, 56. 

Cooper, Peter, 42, 48, 60, 337. 

Copley, John Singleton, 9. 

Corbett, Mr., 357. 

Coudert, Frederick R., 376. 

Courtney, W. A., 349. 

Court Week at Georgetown, 34. 

Cox, Bishop, 36. 

Cox, James F., 92. 

Cox, Samuel H., 36. 

Crane, D. Marshall, 331. 

Crane, James D., 331. 

Crane, J. J., 67. 

Crawford, 150. 

Crittenden, 136. 

Croker, Richard, 383. 

Croly, Mrs. Jennie Cunning- 
ham, 364. 

Croswell, Edwin, 91, 102. 

Croton Water, Introduction of, 
37. 

Curtin, Gov., 330-331, 406. 

Curtin, Mrs. Gov., 330-331. 

Curtis, D. J., 320. 

Curtis, Edward, 40. 

Gushing, 87. 

Cutting, Col., 331. 

Cutting, Francis B., 40. 

Cuyler, Theodore, 57, 350-352, 
384. 

Czolgosz, Leon, 395. 



D 

Dana, Charles A., 57, 368. 
Daughter of the Confederacy, 
The, 372-373. 



Davies, T., 307. 

Davis, Alexander J., 54-56. 

Davis, Charles A., 40, 102. 

Davis, Guilbert, 38. 

Davis, Jefferson, 123, 136, 139, 

163. 164, 276-277, 291, 304-306, 

372-373, 407- 
Davis, Mrs. Jefferson, 372. 
Davis, Winnie, 372-373, 407. 
Dawes, Henry L., 325, 330, 331. 
Dawson, F. W., 407. 
Dawson, Richard, 398. 
Deems, Dr., 56. 
Delatield, Col., 62. 
Delmonico's, 257, 258, 273, 363. 
Dennis, A. L., 312, 313, 314. 
Dennis, Jr., A. L., 314. 
Dennis, Mrs. A. L., 312, 313, 

314- 
Dennis, Martin R., 314. 
Dennis, Mrs. Martin R., 314. 
Dennis, Samuel S., 314. 
Depew, Chauncey M., 369, 387. 
Devens, Judge, 330-331. 
Dewey, Mr., 377. 
Dickens, Charles, 386. 
Dickinson, Daniel S., 73, 102. 
Dix, John A., 38-39, 40, 61, 73, 

79, 82, 91, 102, 115, 176-180, 

224-226, 399, 406. 
Dix, Mrs. John A., 225-226. 
Dix, Morgan, 39, 224-225. 
Dixon, Senator, 92. 
Dodd, Mrs. D., 312, 314. 
Dodge, William E., 194, 293, 

364-366. 
Doer, George B., 47. 
Dolner & Potter, 241, 243. 
Dorr, George B., 353. 
Dorsheimer, Lieut. -Gov., 338- 

339-. 
Downing, 56. 
Dozier, Anthony W., 8. 
Draper, Simeon C, 25. 40. 
Drew, Daniel, 68-70. 
Drexel, Harjes & Co., 388. 
Dudley, Bishop, 363. 
Dudley, Mr., 209, 211. 
Dueling, 14-15. 
Duer, John, 40. 
Duncan, Chancellor, 8. 
Duncan, Wm. B., 67. 
Duncan, Sherman & Co., 222, 

245- 
Dunham, Thomas, 222. 



414 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 



Dunscome, W. E., 399. 
Durer, Albert, 379. 
Duyckinck, Evert, 52. 
Duyckinck, Evert A., 39, 51-53, 
56. 



Earle, John H., 222. 

Elderkin, John, 385. 

Elizabeth, Queen, 361. 

Elliott, Bishop, 135. 

EUridge, Dr., 47. 

EUsniere, Lord, 47. 

Ely, Mr., 377. 

Ely, Smith, 57. 

Emmons, 379. 

England, Bishop, 15-16. 

Erie Railroad, 68-70, 364. 

Esther, Book of, 328. 

Eustis, Senator, 189. 

Eustis, Mrs. Senator, 189. 

Evarts, Wm. M., 57, 67, 197- 
198, 214, 258, 259, 281, 283- 
284, 293, 305, 346, 390-394. 407- 



Field, Cyrus W., 259-260, 339, 

369- 
Field, David Dudley, 329, 330, 

331, 372, 376, 378, 407- 
Field, Henry M., 329-331, 407. 
Field, Maunson B., 60. 
Fielding, Thomas, 199, 357-359. 
Fielding, Mrs. Thomas, 358. 
Fillmore, Millard, Ti, 112, 120, 

297-298, ^^Z. 
Fish, Hamilton, 295, 322, 324, 

400. 
Fitch, Mr., ZIT- 
Flag, George W., 9. 
Flower, Roswell P., 407. 
Forbes, Mr., 258. 
Ford, J. Ress, 8. 
Ford, Stephen, 8. 
Forrest, Edwin, 56. 
Fowler, Wm. C., 227. 
Francis, John W., 38, 39, 40, 51. 
Franklin, Benjamin, 369. 
Fraser, Mr., 241, 243. 
Freedmen's Bureau, 272, 323. 
Fremont, Gen., 97. 
Frost, Judge, 8, 127. 



Frost, W. T., 222. 

Froude, James Anthony, 386. 

Furness, Henry, 387. 



Gaillard, S. T, 8. 
Gainsborough, 9. 
Gallatin, Albert, 40. 
Garden, Capt., 376. 
Garden, Mrs. Capt., 376. 
Gardner, John, 57, 66, 257-258, 

279. 
Garfield, James A., 359-363, 395- 
Garfield, Mrs. James A., 359- 

363- 
Garnett, Col., 372. 
Gary, Gen., 322, 324. 
Gates, Gen., ir. 
Gebhard, Frederick C. 67. 
Geneva Award, 345-348. 
Genin, Mr., 58. 

Georgetown Address, 261-269. 
Georgetown, Famous Residents 

of, 8-19. 
Gerard, James W., 40. 
Gerard, S. P., 40. 
Gerolt, Baron, 188-189, 191. 
Gerster, Mnie., 47. 
Gibb, Howard, 350. 
Gibbs, J. S., 244, 245. 
Gilbert, 387. 
Gilmore, Col., 315. 
Gilmore, Gen. Q. A., 315. 
Gist, Ex-Gov., 125. 
Glennie, Rev., 8. 
Goelets, The, 41. 
Golden Wedding, 379-380. 
Goldsmith, Oliver, 54, 374. 
Goldsmith, Oliver, Grand-nieces 

of, 374- 
Goodhue, Jonathan, 40. 
Gordon, Ex-Gov., 406. 
Gordon, J. B., 134, 406. 
Gould, Edward J., 53. 
Goulds, The, 41. 
Gourdin, Henry, 74, 81-91, 113- 

114, 293, 301, 348-349- 
Gourdin, Robert, 134, 348-349. 
Gracie, Archibald, 222. 
Grant, Frederick D., 376. 
Grant, Mrs. Frederick D., 376. 
Grant, Ulysses S., 191, 257, 258, 
^ 278, 293, 294, 295, 319-324. 332, 

345-346. 375. 407. 



INDEX 



415 



Grant, Mrs. Ulysses S., 375. 

Great Western Marine Insur- 
ance Company, 64-67, 174, 
194, 197, 222, 223, 279-287, 345, 
390- 

Greeley, Horace, 160, 302-304, 
318, 321, 332. 

Greeley, Mrs. Horace, 302. 

Green, Andrew H., 57. 

Greene, Bronson C., 112, 120. 

Griffin, George, 38, 40. 

Grinnel, Henry, 72. 

Grinnel, Minturn & Co., 222. 

Grinnel, Moses H., 25, 40, 57, 
130, 132, 194, 195, 222, 257-258, 

293- 

Griswold, George, 40. 
Grow, Gahisha A., 407. 
Guion, Wm. H., 66, 281. 
Guiteau, Charles J., 395. 

H 

Hackett, Mr., 51. 
Haight, Rev. Dr., 399. 
Hale, David, 226. 
Hall, A. Oakey, 59, 386. 
Hall, Newman, 363. 
Hall, Prescott, 39. 
Halleck, Fitz-Greene, 51. 
Hallock, Gerard, 72, 91, 102, 

226-228. 
Hallock, William H., 227-228. 
Hamilton, 379. 
Hamilton, Alexander, 15. 
Hammond, Senator, 150. 
Hampton, Wade, 324. 
Hancock, Gen., 47. 
Hand, Thomas C, 363. 
Harding, Mr., 331. 
Harlee, Gen., 121-128. 
Harper, Fletcher, 53. 
Harper, James, 52. 
Harris, Benjamin, 313. 
Hart, Emanuel B., 180-181. 
Hastings, George, 36. 
Hawks, Rev. Dr., 51, 399. 
Hayne, Robert Y., 8, 23. 
Henning, James G., 8. 
Hennings, Geo. W., 67. 
Heineman, Emile, 66. 
Henri IV., 380. 
Henry, 12. 

Henry, Joshua J., 72. 
Henry, Patrick, 142. 



Heriot, E. T., 8. 
Hewitt, Mr., 336. 
Higbee, Rev. Dr., 399, 
Higgins, Elias S., 102. 
Hill, David B., 370-372. 
Hilton, Judge, 44-45. 
Hinsdale, Frank, 331. 
Hinsdale, James, 331. 
Hitchcock, Prof., 352. 
Hoadley, John C., 252-253, 304, 

305, 306. 
Hoffman, Murray, 400. 
Hoffman, Ogden, 40, 47, 407. 
Hoge, Moses D., 331, 407. 
Hole, Dean, 387. 
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 326. 
Homans, J. Smith, 186. 
Hone, Philip, 39, 40. 
Hooker, Gen., 407. 
Houghton, Lord, 386. 
Howard, William j., 34-35. 
Howe, Julia Ward, 38. 
Howland & Frothingham, 222. 
Hoxie, Joe, 49. 
Hoyt, Ex-Gov., 377. 
Hubbell, Mr., 377. 
Huger, Alfred, 8, 121, 289-296, 

349- 
Huger, Mrs. Alfred, 295. 
Humboldt Mining & Refining 

Co., 258-259. 
Hunt, Washington, 73, 91. 
Hunt, Wilson G., 42, 47, 48-49, 

61, 67, 72, 91, 102, 130, 132. 179, 

214-216, 222, 259, 260, 273, 279, 

336, 376. 
Hunter, Col., 136. 
Huntington, Daniel, 283, 378, 

379- 



Ingersoll, Robert, 372. 
Irish Brigade, 173. 
Ironsides Regiment, 173. 
Irving, Henry, 386. 
Irving, Washington, 39, 56. 



Jackson, Andrew, 50, 157, 182, 
289, 290, 291, 371-372, 381, 389- 

Jackson Day Banquet, 368, 370, 
370-372. 

Jackson, Henry R., 133. 



4i6 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 



James, Joseph, 407. 

James, Thomas L., 372, 374-375, 

376. 
James, Mrs. Thomas L., 375, 

376. 
Jameson, Gen., 121, 122. 
Jay, John, 40, 400. 
Jefferson, Thomas, 105, 144, 145, 

150-151, 156, 369, 381, 389. 
Johnson, Andrew, 246, 273-275, 

323, 391-394- 
Johnson. Samviel R., 399. 
Johnston, J. B., 66, 258, 281. 
Johnston, Joseph E., 216, 275- 

277, 406. 
Jones, David, 47. 
Jones, Mr., 343-344- 
Jones, Thomas Floyd, 400. 
Jones, Walter R., 400. 
Judson, Henry Pratt, 235. 
" June, Jennie," 364. 

K 

Kames, Lord, 56. 
Keasbey, A. Q., 312, 314. 
Keasbey, Mrs. A. Q., 312, 314. 
Keith, Alexander, 398. 
Keith, John Alexander, 8. 
Keith, Paul Trapier, 398. 
Kellogg, Clara Louise, 47. 
Kellogg, Ensign H., 330, 331. 
Kennedy, D. S., 40. 
Kennedy, J. C. G.. 188-190. 
Kennedy, Mrs. J. C. G., 189. 
Kennedy, Policeman, 130, 131, 

132. 
Kent, Chancellor, 39, 40. 
Kent, William, 61. 
Kerner, 46, 48. 
Kernochan, Frank, 331. 
Kernochan, John. 330, 331. 
Kerrigan, Mr., 131, 132. 
Ketchum, Hiram. 102. 
Key, Francis Scott, iS, 157. 
King, James G., 39, 40. 
King. James G., Sons, 222. 
King. John A., 400. 
Kingsley, Dean, 387. 
Kinney, Thomas T., 314. 
Knowlson, Mr., 377. 
Knox, Thomas W., 387-388. 
Ku-Kluxism, 272. 
Kutter, Gustavus, 66. 
Kyle, Mr., 59. 



Lafayette. 363. 

Lamar, Mr., 130. 

Lamb, Charles, 52. 

Lance, Harvey M.. 8, 18-20. 

Landseer, 279. 

Langham Hotel (London), 217- 
218. 

Laselle, Mr. zil- 

Lathers, Richard, Circum- 
stances leading to preparation 
of Reminiscences of, 3-4; 
Early education of, 4; Starts 
in business, 4; Attends Van 
Buren banquet, 7-8; Elected 
Major, 10; Helps to prevent 
a duel, 14; Is burned out, 16- 
17; Is saved from bankruptcy 
by his friends, 16-17; Makes 
his first public address, 18; 
Takes a trip through New 
England, 20; Is presented to 
the Thurstons, 20; Goes on 
an excursion on the Harlem 
Railroad. 20-21; Is married 
to Abby Pitman Thurston, 21; 
Takes wedding trip to Niag- 
ara and Boston, 21; Assists 
in the festivities in honor of 
Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Webster, 
21-23; Goes North on same 
steamer as Mr. and Mrs. 
Daniel Webster, 23-25; Helps 
defeat the Charleston and 
Columbia junta by electing 
a delegate to the National 
Democratic Convention. 33- 
35; Secures for this delegate 
the right to cast ballot for 
the entire State of South 
Carolina, 35; Is entertained 
in Brooklyn by Edward An- 
thon3' and George Hastings. 
36; Witnesses the celebration 
in honor of the introduction 
of Croton water into New 
York City, 37; Takes up his 
residence in Bond Street, 38: 
Visits house on the site of 
the Stewart mansion, 42; Dis- 
cusses with A. T. Stewart the 
future of the latter's business, 
44; Frequents the Clarendon 
Hotel, 46-53; Buys Winyah 
Park, New Rochelle, and 



INDEX 



417 



Lathers, Richard. — Continued. 
builds a summer residence 
there, 53-54: Studies drawing 
and architecture under Alex- 
ander J. Davis, 54: Is advised 
by Samuel F. B. Morse, 56-57; 
Lends his flute to Kyle, the 
flutist, who accompanies 
Jenny Lind with it, 59; Serves 
on the Committee of One 
Hundred citizens appoint- 
ed to receive the Prince of 
Wales, 60; Establishes him- 
self as a commission mer- 
chant and as agent of insur- 
ance companies and banks, 
63; Accepts a directorship 
and the chairmanship of the 
Finance Committee in a ma- 
rine insurance company, 64; 
Accepts the presidency of the 
Great Western Marine Insur- 
ance Company, 65-66; Be- 
comes a member of the New 
York Chamber of Commerce, 
67-68; Is elected a director 
and chairman of the Finance 
Committee of the Erie Rail- 
road, 68; Attempts in vain to 
control the stock speculating 
mania of Daniel Drew, 69; Is 
one of the vice-presidents of 
the meeting of conservative 
citizens in the Academy of 
Music 72; Is appointed one of 
a Committee of Three to call 
meetings for the election of 
delegates to the Charleston 
Democratic Convention, 73; 
Refuses to represent New 
Rochelle in the County Nom- 
inating Convention, 7^; Is 
elected to represent West- 
chester County in the State 
Convention, 73; Addresses a 
letter to five representative 
citizens of Charleston. S. C, 
74-80; Receives their answers, 
81-51; Is one of seventeen 
conservative men to arrange 
for the Pine Street Meeting 
and calls this meeting 10 or- 
der, 91-92; Is appoinied one 
of a Committee of Three to 
present to the South the " Ad- 



Lathers, Richard. — Continued. 
dress " and " Resolutions " of 
the Pine Street Meeting, 112; 
Receives letters from promi- 
nent men in the So.ith, 112- 
117; Is requested to under- 
take alone the Pine Street 
Meeting mission, 120; Sets 
out for the South, 120; At- 
tends the sessions of the 
Peace Convention at Wash- 
ington, 120; Meets James 
Lyons and other distinguish- 
ed Virginians in Richmond, 
120-121; Presents the "Ad- 
dress " in Charleston at a 
dinner given by Gov. Pick- 
ens, 121; Is invited by Gov. 
Pickens and Gen Jameson to 
visit Fort Moultrie, 122; 
Sends from Charleston a let- 
ter which is printed in the 
New York Journal of Com- 
merce, 126-129; Goes from 
Charleston to Savannah, 130; 
Helps to adjust the contro- 
versy between Gov. Brown 
and the police of New York 
over the seizure by the latter 
of a consignment of arms be- 
longing to the State of 
Georgia, 130-133; Visits Fort 
Pickens on invitation of Gov. 
Brown, 134; Hears for the 
first time the prayer for the 
President of the Confederate 
States, 135; Sends a let- 
ter from Savannah to the 
New York E.vpress. 135-T36, 
Goes from Savannah to Au- 
gusta, 137; Goes from Augus- 
ta to Columbus and Macon, 
137; Goes next to Montgom- 
ery, Ala., 137; Sends a letter 
from Montgomery to the New 
York Journal of Commerce, 
137-138; Is introduced to 
President Davis, 139; Pre- 
sents to President Davis the 
" Appeal to the South " of the 
Pine Street Meeting, accom- 
panying it by an address, 139- 
163:' Is invited to an evening 
reception at the residence of 
President Davis, 163; Sends a 



4i8 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 



Lathers, Richard. — Continued. 
second letter from Montgom- 
ery to the New York Jour- 
nal of Commerce, 163-165; 
Visits Mobile on invitation of 
the Chamber of Commerce, 
165; Is interrupted while 
speaking before the Mobile 
Chamber of Commerce by the 
news of the firing upon Fort 
Sumter, 166; Visits New Or- 
leans on invitation of the 
Chamber of Commerce, 167; 
Is ordered to leave the city by 
the Mayor of New Orleans, 
167; Returns North, 167; Is 
accused of disloyalty by sev- 
eral New York papers, 168- 
170; Sends a communication 
to the press declaring his 
loyalty, 171; Receives many 
threatening letters, 171-172; 
Contributes financially and 
otherwise to the work of put- 
ting down the Rebellion, 173; 
Participates in a meeting of 
bankers summoned to discuss 
aiding the Treasury by sub- 
scription to a loan, 174-176; 
Urges the nomination of Gen. 
Dix for the Governorship of 
New York, 176; Visits Gen. 
Dix at Fortress Monroe, 178; 
Writes a letter to Gen. Dix 
on his candidacy, 179-180; 
Confers with Ex-Governor 
Seymour, 180-181; Initiates a 
movement for the presenta- 
tion to Gen. Scott of a por- 
trait of himself, 183; Is ap- 
pointed by the President of 
the Chamber of Commerce 
one of a Committee of Three 
to draft and present a me- 
morial to President Lincoln, 
184-188; Interviews Secretary 
Seward and Secretary Chase, 
187-188; Entertains Gen. Mc- 
Clellan at New Rochelle, 192- 
194; Interviews Gov. Seymour 
regarding the duration of the 
War, 196-197; Visits England 
and the Continent, 197-219; 
Attends a banquet given by 
James McHenry, 198-199; Is 



Lathers, Richard. — Continued. 
elected an honorary member 
of the Committee of Lloyds 
and delivers an address before 
that body, 199; Delivers an 
address before the Manches- 
ter Chamber of Commerce, 
199-206; Is interviewed by 
Confederate bond - holders, 
206-207; Is entertained at 
Edinburgh by Sir James 
Simpson, 207; Writes to John 
A. Parker describing the state 
of English sentiment, 209- 
214; Receives a letter from 
Wilson G. Hunt describing 
conditions in New York, 214- 
216; Is instrumental in se- 
curing an American manager 
for the Langham Hotel, 217- 
218; Confounds the clerk of 
a Paris hotel, 218-219; Re- 
turns to New York, 219; 
Drafts and circulates an ap- 
peal to the Secretary of the 
Navy, 219-223; Interviews 
Editor Stone regarding a 
bogus dispatch, 224-225; De- 
livers an address before 
the Mercantile Library Asso- 
ciation, 230; Delivers an ad- 
dress on Lincoln at New 
Rochelle, 232; Delivers an ad- 
dress on Lincoln at Tam- 
many Hall, 232; Makes the 
acquaintance of Gov. Scott, 
of South Carolina, and aids 
him in raising funds for the 
State in New York, 238; Re- 
ceives many appeals for finan- 
cial help from old friends in 
the South, 240-251; Entertains 
Dr. Porter at New Rochelle, 
251-252; Co-operates with Dr. 
Porter and John C. Hoadley 
in founding an educational 
fund for the South, 252-253; 
Secures the release of the 
Winyah Indigo Society and 
helps in re-establishing pub- 
lic worship in the South, 255; 
Entertains William Gilmore 
Simms at New Rochelle, 255- 
257; Accepts a directorship in 
the Humbolt Mining & Re- 



INDEX 



419 



Lathers, Richard. — Continued. 
fining Co., 258; Declines to 
invest in Cyrus W. Field's 
elevated road, 260; Delivers 
an address to a joint meeting 
of white and colored men at 
Georgetown, S. C, 261-270; 
Counsels the citizens of 
Charleston to co-operate with 
the negroes, 270-271 ; At- 
tends banquet in honor of 
President Johnson, 273; Visits 
President Johnson, 274; Be- 
comes connected with the 
York Guaranty and Indem- 
nity Company, 275; Entertains 
Gen. Johnston at Morley's 
Hotel, 275-277; Loses his 
friend Donald McKay, 277- 
279; Resigns the Presidency 
of the Great Western Ma- 
rine Insurance Company, 279- 
283; Is presented with a sil- 
ver service and a portrait by 
Huntington, 283-287; Resigns 
his membership in the Cham- 
ber of Commerce, 287; Takes 
up residence in Charleston, 
288; Secures the vindication 
and rehabilitation of Alfred 
Huger, 289-296; Secures the 
transformation of the old 
Charleston customhouse and 
postoffice building into a post 
and telegraph office, 296-297; 
Goes as a Charleston dele- 
gate to the convention of the 
National Board of Trade at 
Buffalo, where he responds to 
the toast " Our Country," 297; 
Is instrumental in organizing 
the first Taxpayers' Conven- 
tion, which he attends as one 
of two delegates from 
Charleston, 298-301 ; Speaks 
at the annual dinner of the 
Charleston Hibernian Society 
and at two anniversaries of 
the New England Society, 
302; Supports actively the 
Greeley ticket, 302; Enter- 
tains Gov. Clifford of Massa- 
chusetts and other Northern 
visitors at his South Battery 
residence, 304-307; Entertains 



Lathers, Richard. — Conli)iued. 
Judge Davies of New York, 
307; Entertains Ex-Gov. Sey- 
mour and William Cullen 
Bryant, 308-312; Fights and 
wins a social battle, 310-312; 
Entertains a number of 
Northern railroad presidents 
and bankers, 312-316; Enter- 
tains Dr. Henry W. Bellows, 
317-318; Visits Charles Sum- 
ner, 319-320; Attends the sec- 
ond Taxpayers' Convention, 
where he drafts resolutions 
and delivers an address, 319- 
320; Presents the case of the 
taxpayers before President 
Grant and a joint committee 
of Congress, 320-325; Is 
made an honorary member of 
the Alumni Association of 
Williams College, 325; De- 
livers an address at Williams 
College on " State Rights as 
Opposed to State Sover- 
eignty," 325; Gives up his 
Charleston residence for Ab- 
by Lodge, Pittsfield, Mass., 
326; Gives a reception at 
Abby Lodge in honor of Gov. 
Curtin and Mrs. Curtin, 330- 
331; Becomes intimate with 
Samuel Bowles of the Spring- 
field Republican . 332-3S3'y De- 
livers an address before 
the Deerfield Agricultural So- 
ciety, 334; Speaks on " Jour- 
nalism and Journalists " be- 
fore the editors and reporters 
of Berkshire County. 334; 
Speaks frequently for the 
Tilden and Hendricks ticket, 
334; Runs as candidate for 
State Senator, 338-344; Is 
elected on the face of the re- 
turns, but is counted out, 344- 
345; Attempts to secure for 
the marine underwriters 
their just dues under the 
Geneva Award, 345-348; Has 
an encounter with Gen. But- 
ler before the Judiciary Com- 
mittee of Congress, 346-348; 
Loses his old friend, Henry 
Gourdin, 348; Sails for Eu- 



420 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 



Lathers, Richard. — Continued. 
rope, 350-352; Meets by 
chance the Earl of Orkney, 
353-354; Has an amusing ex- 
perience with the Savage 
Club of London, 354-357; 
Unites with other Americans 
in calling a meeting at the 
American Exchange to ex- 
press sympathy with IVIrs. 
Garfield, 359-361: Returns to 
America, 363; Responds to 
the sentiment " Shipping and 
Commerce " at a banquet of 
the Associated Marine Un- 
derwriters of the United 
States, 363; Lectures at New 
Rochelle on " Women and 
Their Relation to Society." 
363-364; Assists in honoring 
the memory of his friend, 
Wm. E. Dodge, 364; Renews 
his acquaintance with Mr. 
Blaine, 367; Refuses to be a 
candidate for State Senator, 
367-368; Defends President 
Cleveland at the Jackson Day 
banquet, 368; Visits Europe, 
368; Speaks at the Fourth of 
July banquet at Lucerne, 
Switzerland, 368-369; Returns 
to America, 369; Replies to 
Chauncey M. Depew, 369; 
Delivers an address before 
The Church Club, 370; Speaks 
on " Tariff Reform " at the 
banquet of the Business Men's 
Democratic Club of New 
York City, 370; Speaks again 
before the same organization 
in response to the toast, 
" Business Men in Politics," 
370-372; Speaks at the Lotos 
Club in reply to Col. Inger- 
soll, 372; Entertains Miss 
Winnie Davis at New Ro- 
chelle, 372-373; Builds a resi- 
dence at Twilight Park, in 
the Catskills, 373; Entertains 
]\Iiss Mary Custis Lee, 374- 
376; Delivers a series of lec- 
tures on " Art " before the 
Borcella Club of New Ro- 
chelle, 378: Celebrates his 
Golden Wedding, 379-380; 



Lathers, Richard. — Continued. 
Refuses to serve as a member 
of the Election Committee of 
Westchester County because 
of the nomination of Bryan, 
380; Talks on "Free Silver" 
at Twilight Park, 380; Ad- 
dresses the Church Club on 
" The Duty of Churchmen to 
the State," 381-382; Donates 
a prize fund to Williams Col- 
lege, 382; Is elected an hono- 
rary member of Flandreau 
Post, 509, G. A. R., 382; Pro- 
tests publicly against the reso- 
lutions of the " Hundredth 
Annual Conference of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church," 
indorsing the Spanish-Ameri- 
can War, 382; Publishes a 
pamphlet entitled " A Letter 
on the Social and Political 
Degradation of the Times." 
382; Resigns membership in 
the Lotos Club, 385; Loses 
his friend, Col, Knox, 387; 
Denounces the Kansas City 
Convention, 388-390; Is ap- 
pointed a vice-president of 
the Charleston Exposition, 
390; Loses his friend, Wm. 
M. Evarts, 390; Conducts 
memorial services at Twilight 
Park in honor of President 
McKinley, 395-397- 

Lathers, Mrs. Richard, 21, 43, 
122, 124, 134, 245, 311, 341, 
372, 379, 380, 403. 

Lathrop, F. S., 222. 

Lathrop, Mr., 131, 132. 

La Volpe, 379. 

Lawton. A. R.. 134, 406. 

Learned, Edward, 330, 331. 

Le Brun, 379. 

Lee, George, 372. 

Lee, Mary Custis, 374-376. 407. 

Lee, Robert E., 311, 374, 375. 
376, 407. 

Lely, Sir Peter, 9. 

Lesseps, Count de, 386. 

Lincoln, Abraham, 82, 90, 106, 
149-150, 151, 152, 154, 173, 184, 
185-187, 200, 201, 215, 224, 228, 
231-234. 266, 272. 276-277, 292, 
318, 384, 395, 396. 



INDEX 



421 



Lincoln, Mrs. Abraham, 184. 
Lind, Jenny, 57-60. 
Literary World, The, 53. 
Lloyds (London), iQg. 
London Clubs, 353-357- 
Long, George, 52. 
Lordj Daniel, Jr., 40. 
Lotos Club, 354. 355, 357, Z12, 

385-388. 
Louis XVI., 380. 
Louis Napoleon, 38. 
Louis Philippe, 380. 
Loundes. C. T., 293, 349. 
Lovell, Mansfield, 406. 
Low, A. A., 48, 57, 132, 224. 
Low, A. A., & Bros., 222. 
Lowell, James Russell, 52, 53, 

360. 
Luce, James C, 282. 
Lucerne (Switzerland) banquet, 

368-369. 
Ludlow. Thomas W., 102. 
Lull, J. W., z^7- 
Lynch, Thomas, 331, 407. 
Lyons, James, 120. 
Lyons, Lord, 229. 



M 

MacArthur, Judge, 189. 
MacArthur, Mrs. Judge, 1S9. 
Madison, James, 105, 144. 
Magrath, A. G., 74, 81-91', 121, 

406. 
Malone, Sylvester, 352. 
Manchester Address, 199-206. 
Manhattan Club, 70, 183, 385. 
Manning, Gov., 322. 
Marble, Manton, 57. 
Marcy, Ex-Gov., 50. 
Mario, 60. 

Marion, Gen.. 11-12. 
Marshall, C. H., 185, 194, 222, 

224. 
Marshall, Chief Justice, 143-144, 

150. 
Marshall, Ex-Gov., 47. 
Marshall, Rev. Dr., 360. 
Mathews, Cornelius, S3-55. 
Maxwell, Mr.. 350. 
Mayo, Mr., 376. 
Mayo, Mrs., 376. 
Mayton, William H., 283. 
McAllister, Ward, 39, 47, 62. 



McClellan, George, 191-194, 406. 
McClellan, Mrs. George, 192. 
McCord, Col., 17. 
McCord, Louisa S., 17-18. 
McDowell, Irvin, 406. 
McGlathery, Rev., 331. 
McHenry, James, 198-199. 
McKay, Alex. R., 282. 
McKay, Capt., 350. 
McKay, Donald L., 4, 8, 14, 16, 
34-35, 121, 244-246, 277-279, 

349- 
McKeon, John, 102, 126. 
McKinley, William, 395. 
McMurray, Senator, 179. 
McVicar, Rev. Dr., 399. 
Mecke, J. A., 66. 
Melon, S. S., ZIT- 
Melville, Allan, 326, 330, 331. 
Melville, Herman, 51, 328-329, 

407. 
Memminger, C. G., 74, 81-83, 

I2r, 139. 140, 15s, 165, 406. 
Memorial to President Lincoln, 

185-188. 
Middleton, Henry A., 8. 
Middleton, John Izzard, 8. 
Miles, Nelson A., 406. 
Minturn, Robert B., 40, 61. 
Mitchell, Nelson, 74, 81-83, 246. 
Mitchell & Whaley, 245, 246. 
Mitchell, Prof., JZ. 
Modjeska, Mme., 47. 
Molyneux, Mr., 134. 
Monroe, James, 105. 
Montgomery, 215. 
Montgomery Address, The, 139- 

163. 
Moran. Edward. 378-379. 
Morewood, J. R., 330. 331. 
Morewood, Mrs. J. R., 330. 
Morgan, E. D., & Co.. 222. 
Morgan, E. E., 72, 222. 
Morgan, Gov., 62, 173. 
Morgan, J. Pierpont. 67. 
Morgan, J. Pierpont, & Co., 222. 
Morgan, Matthew, 72. 
Morgan, Mr., 38. 
Morgan, W. D., 4. 
Morley's Hotel (London), 217. 
Morris, Lewis, 400. 
Morse Brothers, 69-70. 
Morse, Furman H., 209. 
Morse, Samuel F. B., 56-57, 369. 
Morton, Chief Justice, 330-331. 



422 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 



Moses, Franklin J., 238-239. 

Moultrie, 12. 

Musgrave, Sir Anthony, 329, 

331- 
Musgrave, Lady, 329. 
Myers, Bailey, 53. 



N 

Napier, Lord, 47. 
Neal, Joseph C, 36. 
Neal, Mrs. Joseph C, 36-37. 
Newcastle, Duke of, 60, 62. 
Newcomb, Charles V., 222. 
New York Guaranty & Indem- 
nity Co., 275. 
Nott, Benjamin, 102. 



O 

O'Conor, Charles, 40, 57, y^, 76, 

79, 87, 92, 118, 407. 
O'Conor, Charles, Address of, 

at Pine Street Meeting, 92- 

lOI. 

Ogden, Abraham, 40. 
Ogden, David E., 40. 
O'Gorman, Richard, 51, Z7y27A, 

276. 
O'Gorman, Mrs. Richard, 376. 
Olyphant, Robert M., 67. 
O'Neal, Judge. 15. 
Opdyke, George, 222. 
Orchestrion, 328. 
Orkney, Earl of, 354. 
Orr, Ex-Gov., 406, 407. 
O'Sullivan, John L., 102. 



Pacalan, 275. 

Paddock, Bishop, 331, 407. 

Padelford, Mr., 134. 

Panini, 379. 

Parker, John A., 131-132, 209, 

211, 213. 
Parker, Judge, 344. 
Parker, Rev. Dr., 363. 
Parmly brothers. The, 38. 
Patti, Mme., 47. 
Payne, John Howard, 59-60. 
Peace Convention, The, 120. 



Pee Dee Club, 7-8. 
Pell Family, The, 38. 
Perit, E., 186. 
Peril, Pelatiah, 61. 

Perry, A. L., 3/6-378. 

Perry, Nehemiah, 312, 314. 

Perry, Mrs. Nehemiah, 314. 

Petigru, Capt., 8, 14. 

Petigru, James L., 14, 15, 121, 
296, 349. 

Peyster, Frederick de, 40, 399. 

Phelps, E. J., 47. 

Phelps, Geo. A., Jr., 67. 

Phelps, Royal, 102. 

Phillips, Wendell, 159. 

Pickens, Gen., 12. 

Pickens, Gov., 121. 

Pickersgill, William, 57, 66. 

Pierce, Franklin, 47, 50-51, 73. 

Pierpont, Judge, 57, 179, 407. 

Pierrepont Rifles, 172. 

Piese, Rev. Dr., 403. 

Pinckney, Charles Coatesworth, 
142-143. 

Pinckney, Rev. Dr., 331, 407. 

Pine Street Meeting, 91-112, 
201. 

Plantation Life in South Caro- 
lina, 4-7. 

Plunkett, W. H., 331. 

Poinsett, Joel R., 7. 

Polk, Ex-President, 82, 

Pomeroy, Robert, 330, 331. 

Pomeroy, Theodore, 331. 

Pope, Gen., 191. 

Porter, A. Toomer, 128, 248-253, 
407. 

Porter, Horace, 376, 387. 

Porter, Mr., 325. 

Porter, W. D., 301, 310, 319, 322. 

Potter, Clarkson N., 57. 

Potter, Henry C, 57, 396-397, 
403-405- 

Potter, Horatio, 57, 399. 

Prevost, Gen., 11. 

Prime, Frederick, 40. 

Prime, Irenaeus, 407. 

Prime, W. C, 176, 178, 180, 193. 

Prince George Winyah, 398. 

Prince of Wales, 60-62, 383. 

Pringle, William Bull, 8. 

Prior, Dr., 8. 

Proctor, Prof., 387. 

Pryor, Roger A., 376. 

Pryor, Mrs. Roger A., 27^. 



INDEX 



423 



Purdy, Mr., 345. 
Putnam, 46. 

Q 

Quincy, Josiah, 8. 



R 

Randall, James R., 18, 406. 
Randall, Samuel J., 331, 370-371, 

406. 
Raney. Senator, 236, 270. 
Ray, Robert, 40. 
Redpath, 249. 
Reed, I. Havilson, 8. 
Reform Club, 385. 
Reid, Whitelaw, 386, 387. 
Rensselaer, P. S., 399. 
" Resolutions " adopted by the 

Pine Street Meeting, lir-112. 
Revere House CBoston), 21. 
Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 9, 327. 
Rhett, Robert B., 303. 
Rhinelander, Mr., 47. 
Rich, Col., 14. 
Richards, T. A., 379. 
Richardson, 363. 
Richmond, Gen., 350. 
Riggs, Mr., I9S, 197. 
Ristori, Mme., 47. 
Ritchie, Mr., 144-145. 
Robertson, Alexander, 8. 
Robertson, William H., 338-345. 
Robinson, Alexander, 349. 
Robinson, Edward Mott, 71. 
Robinson, Judge, 331. 
Rockwell, Judge, 330, 331. 
Roberts, O. M., 34. 
Rodgers, Randolph, 380. 
Rogers & Kneeland, 222. 
Rogers, Samuel, 53. 
Rose, A. G., 349. 
Rothmakler, E. B., 8. 
Rowan, Charles W., 313. 
Rubini, 60. 

Ruchlin & Crane, 222. 
Rudisch, Daniel, 113. 
Ruffin, Edmund, 20. 
Ruggles, Mr., 46. 
Ruggles, S. B., 40. 
Russell, Charles H., 40. 
Russell, Lord, 211. 
Russell, Stephen P., 102. 
Rutson, Albert, 312. 



Sala, 386. 

Sale, W. A., & Co., 222. 
Sampson Family, T?he, 38. 
Sampson, Mr., 257. 
Sanderson, Mr., 218. 
Satterlee, Henry Y., 395-396. 
Savage Club (London), 3SS-3S7- 
Schell, Augustus, 91. 
Schepeler, John F., 279. 
Scott, Gov., 238-239, 323. 
Scott, Thomas A., 313. 
Scott, Winfield, 61, 73, 181, 182, 

183-184, 380. 
Seabrooke, H., 304. 
Seabury. Rev. Dr., 399. 
Sewall, 381. 
Seward, Wm. H., 115, 168, 182, 

184, 187-189, 191, 195, 214, 224- 

226, 229, 231, 256, 257, 273-274. 
Seymour, Horatio, 177, 180-181, 

195-197, 308-310, 340, 399, 406, 

407. 
Shackelford, Francis R., 8. 
Shakespeare (Fourth Edition), 

328. 
Sherman, Gen., 245, 246, 276-277. 
Sherman, Isaac, 222. 
Sherman, Watts, 72, 91, 102. 
Sickles, Gen., 255, 406. 
Simmons, 379. 
Simms, William Gilmore, 255- 

.257, 407- 
Simons, Col., 316. 
Simons, Gen., 322. 
Simpson, Bishop, 360-362. 
Simpson, Sir James, 207-209. 
Slaughter, Philip, 19-20. 
Slavery, Opinions on, 7, y(>, 87- 

88, 93, 98, loo-ioi, 105-107, 

III, 148-156, 162, 232. 
Sloan, Samuel, 312, 314, 316. 
Slocomb, Thomas, 67. 
Smith, Adam, 207. 
Smith, Floyd, 399. 
Smith, Gustavus W., 91, 102, 

406. 
Smith. G. W., Dr., 381. 
Smith, I. McCune, 399. 
Smith, James, 8. 
Smith, Joseph E. A., 330, 331. 
Smith, J. R., 282, 283. 
Smith, Mr., 359. 
Smith, Wellington, 331. 



424 REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD LATHERS 



South Battery residence, 304- 

307, 406. 
Soutter, James T., 72, 91, 102. 
Sparkman, James R., 8, 14. 
Spaiilding, H. F., 66, 280, 281. 
Spedding, Robert, 66. 
Speed, Attorney General, 305. 
Spencer, I. C, 400. 
Spofford, Tileson & Co., 222. 
Spring, Rev. Dr., 38. 
Sqviires, Senator, 189. 
Squires, Mrs. Senator, 189. 
Stanley, Dean, 387. 
Stanton, Edwin M., 173, 178, 

180, 257, 276. 
Steckel, Baron, 47, 195, 196. 
Stephens, Alexander H., 151- 

152, 15s, 164, 165. 
Sterling, Hugh, 352. 
Sterling, M., 27-31. 
Stevens, Mr., 175-176. 
Stevens, Paran, 21. 
Stewart, A. T., 42-46, 48, 72. 
Stewart, Robert L., 41-42. 
Stone, David M., 57. 
Stone, Mr., 224. 
Story, 379. 

Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 18, 400. 
Stuart, Gilbert, 9. 
Stuart, M. Cohen, 312. 
Sullivan, Arthur, 387. 
Sully, 9. 
Sumner, Charles, 189, 252, 319- 

320, 321, 327, 328, 370. 
Sumter, 12. 



Tadolini, 380. 

Tammany Hall, 40, 180, 232, 

274, 383- 
Taney, Chief Justice, 229. 
Tappan, Mr., 189. 
Tappan, Mrs., 189. 
Tappan, J. P., 222, 223. 
Taxpayers' Convention, The 

first, 298-301. 
Taxpayers' Convention, The 

second, 319-325. 
Taylor, Bayard, 51. 
Taylor, Moses, 48, 61, 258, 287- 

288, 312, 314, 316, 317. 
Taylor, Robert L., 222. 
Taylor, Thomas House, 251, 399. 
Thackeray, William M., 51, 386. 



Thayer, James S., 73. 
Thomas, Burlington, 12-13. 
Thomas, Gov., 389. 
Thompson, Col., 331. 
Thompson, Waddy, 115. 
Thornton, Sir Edward, 47, 345. 
Thurman, Allan, 189, 370. 
Thurston, Abby Pitman, 21. 
Thurston, Charles M., 21, 38. 
Thurston, Edward, 311. 
Thurston, Henry, 39. 
Thurston, Joseph, 4, 16, 244, 

24s, 246. 
Tiemann, Daniel P., 72. 
Tilden, Samuel J., 102, 334-336, 

340, 407. 
Tileston, T, 185. 
Tillman, Ex-Gov., 236, 381. 
Tillotson, Thomas, 40. 
Titus, Mr., 213. 
Todd, Rev. Dr., 330, 331, 407. 
Toombs, Robert, 134, 151, 164. 
Townsend Factory, 63. 
Townsend, Rev., 376. 
Townsend, Mrs. Rev., 376. 
Trapier, William W., 8, 14. 
Trapier, Paul, 398. 
Travers, Mr., 258. 
Trenholm, Col., 376. 
Trenholm, Mrs. Col., 376. 
Trenholm, George A., 74, 

250, 349, 406. 
Trinity Church, 398. 
Troze, l8s. 
Tucker, John H., 7-8. 
Tuckerman, Henry T., 53. 
Tupper, 386. 

Tupper, S. Y., 296, 308, 310, 349. 
Turner, J. M. W., 379. 
Tweed, William, 373, 386. 
Twilight Club, 385. 
Twilight Park, 373. 
Tyler, Ex-President, 120, 157- 

158. 
Tyng, Stephen H., 399, 402-403. 



U 



81, 



Union Club, 68, 385. 



Vail, Mr., 174. 
Vallandigham. 215. 
Van Buren, John, 35, 40, 182, 
274. 



INDEX 



425 



Van Buren, Martin, 7-8, 7^, 182. 
Vanderbilt, Cornelius, 41, 48, 

70-71, . 
Vanderbilts, The, 41. 
Van Dyke, Rev., 98. 
Van Rensselaer, Philip, 40. 
Van Vliet, Gen., 57, 190. 
Van Vliet, Mrs. Gen., igo. 
Van Wyck, Robert A., 376. 
Van Wyck, Mrs. Robert A., 376. 
Veile, Gen., 38. 
Vermilye, Rev. Dr., y^- 
Vernet, Joseph, 379. 
Verplanck, Julian C, 61, 399. 
Victoria, Queen, 58, 361-362, 

383. 
Vinton, Frank, 36, 399, 400-401. 
Vinton, Mrs. Frank, 400. 
Vogdes, Gen., 406. 

W 

Wadsworth, Gen, 180. 
Wagner, Theodore, 349. 
Wainwright, Bishop, 39, 40, 399. 
Walker, Mr., 166. 
Walker, Robert J., 213. 
Wallace, Purser, 351. 
Walter. Geo. H., 298-299. 
Ward, Col., 39. 
Ward Family, The, 38. 
Ward, John, 40. 
Ward, Joshua John, 8. 
Ward, Mr., 132. 
Ward, Samuel, 38, 40. 
Washington, George, lo-ii, 100, 

ISO, 162-163, 291. 321, 369. 
Washington, Martha, 375. 
Waterman, Eleazar, 8, 34-35, 

277. 
Watson, 379. 
Webster, Daniel, 21-27, 60, 141, 

158, 257, 394- 



Webster, Mrs. Daniel, 21-25, 

39- 
Webster, Dr., 305. 
Weed, Thurlow, 183-184. 
Welles, Gideon, 219-223. 
Wells, D. A., 378. 
West, Sir Benjamin, 9, 56. 
Westminster, Dean of, 363. 
Weston, Byron, 331. 
Whaley, Mr., 246. 
Wheeler, Everett J., 376. 
Whippen, Mr., 239. 
Whitehouse, Bishop, 21, 219, 

399- 
Whitfield, 19. 
Whitlock, D. M., 72. 
Whitmore, Prosper M., 40. 
Whittemore, Mr., 321. 
Wilkinson, J. W., 8. 
Williams, George, 349. 
Williams, Gen, 295. 
Williams & Guion, 222. 
Wilmer, Bishop, 254-255. 
Wilson, Benjamin H., 8, 116-119. 
Wilson, Charles L., 209. 
Wilson, John Lyde, 14. 
Wingate, Gen., 373. 
Winston, Frederick S., 399. 
Winyah Park, 53-54, 283, 343, 

372-373. 407. 
Wolf, Joel, 275. 
Wood, George, 40. 
Wood, Mayor, 62. 160. 
Worthing. Admiral, 57. 
Wright, Wm., 66. 



Yates, Edwin, 387. 
Yeadon, Richard, 13, 349. 
Y. M. C. A., 172. 
Young, John Russell, 57. 



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